Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Top Gaza negotiator urges Hamas to embrace rebuilding plan WSJ Editorial: The truth about Hamas Vance says US making progress in Iran talks Iran ‘frighteningly close’ to a nuclear weapon, Energy secretary Chris Wright warns Russian parliament passes bill allowing Putin to invade foreign countries Saudi warplanes struck militias in Iraq during war, sources say Third round of Israel-Lebanon talks to take place with military officials, sources tell 'Post' Gulf countries tout operations targeting alleged Iranian sabotage networks Xi’s Taiwan warning to Trump highlights tensions in Beijing summit Chinese firms plot secret arms sales to Iran, U.S. officials say Bloomberg’s Karishma Vaswani: Taiwan shouldn’t be trade bait in a US-China deal BRICS foreign ministers meet in India as Iran war, oil prices and divisions test the bloc’s unityIn The News
Israel
Benjamin Netanyahu has led Israel for 18 of the last 30 years — the last three marked by Oct. 7, 2023, the deadliest attack on Israeli citizens in the country’s history; a brutal campaign in Gaza; two wars against Iran, and two ground invasions of Lebanon. At home, he has wrangled with anti-corruption prosecutors and a furious national debate over universal military service. – Washington Post
At the height of Israel’s military campaign in Iran this spring, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, “paid a secret visit” to the United Arab Emirates to meet its leader, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the Israeli leader’s office. – New York Times
The official leading negotiations with Hamas and Israel over the future of the Gaza Strip urged the militant group on Wednesday to focus less on consolidating its grip in the part of the war-ravaged enclave it still controls and more on embracing an international plan to rebuild Gaza. – New York Times
Israel has escalated its attacks in Gaza in the five weeks since halting its joint bombing with the U.S. in Iran, redirecting its fire back on the ruined Palestinian enclave where the military believes Hamas fighters are tightening their grip. – Reuters
Bezeq Israel Telecom (BEZQ.TA), has begun to deploy a fast-speed Internet subsea cable aimed at connecting Europe to Asia that its chairman says could ultimately reduce dependency on the Strait of Hormuz. – Reuters
Israel’s defense ministry signed a $34 million deal with Elbit Systems (ESLT.TA), to develop external fuel tanks aimed at extending the range and endurance of F-35 fighter jets, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. – Reuters
As Israeli drones buzz overhead and ambulance sirens wail in the distance, Tarik Zaeem stays hunched over his laptop, working through lines of code for a Saudi valet parking app, debugging its barcode reader. – Associated Press
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition on Wednesday submitted a bill to dissolve parliament, taking a preliminary step toward holding new elections later this year. – Associated Press
Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to coalition whip Ofir Katz’s bill to dissolve the Knesset, saying “We are ready. Together,” in a Wednesday night post to X/Twitter. – Jerusalem Post
Southern Command chief Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor presented a plan to Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir for a return to fighting in Gaza, along with options for continued operations in the Gaza Strip, Walla reported on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
The Global Sumud Flotilla will set sail anew from Turkey to Gaza on Thursday, GSF Steering Committee member Saif Abu Keshek announced on Wednesday during a press conference, following the Israeli Navy’s interception of the activist fleet and detainment of key figures. – Jerusalem Post
Up to 80 percent of incidents that Israeli troops in the West Bank record are Jewish attacks on Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was told on Wednesday, amid an unchecked surge of deadly settler violence that has plunged the West Bank into chaos in recent months. – Times of Israel
The New York Times repeatedly defended a column that alleged Israeli security forces rape Palestinian inmates, as Jewish groups announced they would protest outside the newspaper’s Manhattan offices on Thursday over the “libels.” – Times of Israel
Editorial: Romi Gonen tells of 16 days of assault. Arbel Yehud says she was assaulted throughout her 482 days as a hostage. Two former hostages, minors who are family members, “reported that they were forced to perform ‘sexual acts on one another.’” We regret having to relate such details, but it is crucial to remember when the understandable human impulse is to forget such horrors. All the more so because the sexual violence by Hamas has been aggressively denied by an antisemitic global left that wants us to forget. Everywhere denial serves the same purpose: to distort Israel’s defensive war as if it were wanton violence. Such deniers prefer anything to reminding the world why Israel has no choice but to fight for its life. – Wall Street Journal
Iran
Iran on Wednesday executed a man convicted of repeatedly stabbing and killing a police officer during nationwide protests in early 2026, the semi-official news agency Fars news agency reported. – Reuters
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday he believes progress is being made in negotiations with Iran to end hostilities, after President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s latest proposal as unacceptable. – Reuters
Iran has released on bail prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was arrested in early April in a crackdown during the conflict with the United States and Israel, Iranian news agencies and her daughter said on Wednesday. – Reuters
A series of nine small earthquakes struck the Pardis area east of Tehran overnight, Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday, renewing fears among experts and residents that the Iranian capital could face a major seismic disaster. – Reuters
Iran hosted a World Cup departure rally attended by thousands of fans in Tehran’s Enqelab Square on Wednesday night even if concerns remain about the team getting into the United States and competing at the tournament. – Reuters
Doctors who examined Nobel Peace laureate and activist Narges Mohammadi more than a week after she collapsed at a prison in Iran say she needs months of treatment, her foundation said Wednesday. – Associated Press
Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned Wednesday that Iran is “frighteningly close” to developing weapons-grade enriched uranium. Wright said that Iran’s enriched uranium, which President Trump is dead-set on confiscating, puts the regime just weeks away from the threshold needed to get a nuke. – New York Post
After months under a near-total Internet blackout during the Middle East war, Iranian tech worker Amir-Hassan was finally able to get back online, but only through a privileged service that has sparked public criticism. – Agence France-Presse
Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that Tehran had the right to respond after he accused Kuwait of attacking an Iranian boat and arresting four of its citizens in the Gulf, calling for their release. – Agence France-Presse
Holly Dagres writes: Ultimately, with the Islamic Republic still firmly in power at this juncture, it will be hard to initiate defections among senior officials unless they have a way to defect to another country. The issues surrounding defections remain largely unaddressed in foreign policy discourse on Iran but are central to any strategy aimed at degrading the clerical establishment. Absent such measures, the Iranian people may be left with a diminished regime that is even more hardline and repressive, and now hellbent on revenge—a future to which the Iranian people did not agree when they took to the streets just a few short months ago. – Washington Institute
Russia and Ukraine
A Ukrainian special-forces sniper claimed a world record in late 2023 with a shot that hit a Russian officer almost 2½ miles away. These days Vyacheslav Kovalskiy has a new job: supporting drone pilots. He hasn’t been out to shoot in more than a year and a half. Small drones that are cheap and can be rigged with explosives have changed the face of warfare in Ukraine, pushing some traditional military roles down the billing. – Wall Street Journal
In Moscow, a highly digitized city humming with online services, a three-week internet shutdown this year created a sense of time warp back to the 1990s. People panic-bought radios and pagers, and unfolded paper maps. Public toilets stopped working, paralyzed without bank payments by mobile internet. Taxi and ride-sharing apps were unreachable. Messaging platforms went dead. – Washington Post
As the clock ran out on a three-day truce announced by President Trump, hundreds of Russian drones, guided bombs and missiles swarmed the skies over Ukraine. Four Ukrainian civilians were killed on Tuesday, and eight more died in strikes early Wednesday, officials said. The fighting on the front carried on, without having paused at all during the ostensible cease-fire. – New York Times
Russia pummeled the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and several other regions in a massive aerial attack, officials said on Thursday, killing at least one person and wounding dozens. – Reuters
Ukraine’s military said on Wednesday it had struck a Russian oil terminal, a refinery and a gas processing plant as Kyiv renews attacks on energy infrastructure after a short-lived ceasefire. – Reuters
Russia is interested in joint economic projects with the United States if Washington stops linking trade ties with a peace deal on Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Russia unleashed a massive daytime drone attack on Ukraine on Wednesday, targeting critical infrastructure in the west, killing at least six people and prompting NATO-member Poland to scramble fighter jets, officials said. – Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that many positive things were being said about the enormous potential of U.S.-Russia relations, but that in reality “nothing is happening”. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin replaced the heads of two regions bordering on Ukraine that have been repeatedly targeted by Kyiv’s forces since the war began more than four years ago. – Bloomberg
Russia’s parliament approved a bill on Wednesday that allows President Vladimir Putin to order the invasion of foreign countries. According to the bill, Moscow will be legally allowed to send troops abroad to protect Russian citizens who are arrested, investigated, put on trial or abused in any way by foreign states, international courts and organizations that Russia doesn’t belong to. – Politico
An adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited politicians from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to an economic forum in June in an illustration of how the Kremlin is cultivating ties with Germany’s far right. – Politico
Thomas Graham writes: Instead of pressuring Ukraine to cede territory it still controls, Washington should start calling for a ceasefire along the current line of contact and use whatever leverage it has over both Moscow and Kyiv to achieve that result. It makes no sense to honor a pledge made at Anchorage, if indeed such a pledge was made, if the conditions that underpinned it no longer obtain. The terms of any settlement should, and will, reflect the current balance of forces. While Moscow may still have the upper hand, that balance is now definitely beginning to tilt away from it—and a revival of the spirit of Anchorage will not change that. – The National Interest
Iraq
Saudi fighter jets bombed targets linked to powerful Tehran-backed Shi’ite militias in Iraq during the Iran war, while retaliatory strikes were also launched from Kuwait into Iraq, multiple sources familiar with the matter said. – Reuters
A drone strike hit an Iranian opposition camp north of Iraq’s Erbil, security sources said on Wednesday adding that an arms and ammunition depot inside the camp was targeted. There was no reports of fatalities. – Reuters
Iraq’s parliament is scheduled to vote on Thursday on the cabinet line-up presented by prime minister-designate Ali Al Zaidi. The vote comes with the clock ticking down for Mr Al Zaidi to unveil his government within a 30-day deadline and before some Iraqi MPs leave for Hajj. – The National
Lebanon
Israel and Hezbollah ramped up attacks against each other in recent days as the terror group threatened to make southern Lebanon a “living hell” for the IDF ahead of another round of Israel-Lebanon peace talks in Washington on Thursday. – New York Sun
The third round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will open in Washington on Thursday, and for the first time, military representatives will also participate. The talks, which will take place at the State Department, come just before the expiration of the three-week ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon announced by US President Donald Trump. – Jerusalem Post
Even though three soldiers and one civilian have been killed by exploding drones launched from Lebanon since the ceasefire went into effect there on April 17, the IDF does not view the threat as a strategic challenge with far-reaching ramifications, but rather as a tactical problem for which solutions are steadily being developed. – Jerusalem Post
Gulf States
An operation by Kuwait’s military to intercept a half-dozen men in a fishing boat erupted in gunfire earlier this month. When the smoke cleared, one Kuwaiti soldier was wounded and four of the men were in custody. – Wall Street Journal
A unit of state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said on Wednesday that one of its tankers struck by Iranian drones last week has leaked a small amount of fuel off the coast of Oman, underscoring the ecological risks stemming from the Iran war. – Reuters
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is planning to invite representative from four Gulf states to the summit in Ankara with the Iran war and the transatlantic rift likely to loom large over the talks, said people familiar with the matter. – Bloomberg
Middle East & North Africa
The World Food Programme said on Wednesday it had halved emergency food assistance in Syria due to funding shortages, warning that millions remained vulnerable despite signs of stabilisation in parts of the country. – Reuters
A search and rescue team has recovered the body of a second U.S. service member who went missing near a cliff during a training exercise near Cap Draa, Morocco, the U.S. Army and Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Egypt and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation signed a $1.5 billion loan agreement on Wednesday to support food and energy security in the North African country. – Reuters
Libya aims to restart its 220,000 barrel-per-day Ras Lanuf oil refinery within six to 12 months to supply the domestic market, National Oil Corporation (NOC) chairman Masoud Suleman told reporters in London on Wednesday. – Reuters
China
Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned President Trump that any mishandling of Taiwan could lead to “an extremely dangerous situation,” directly raising a point of tension that has loomed over what the U.S. president said at the start could be “the best summit ever.” – Wall Street Journal
A confidential U.S. intelligence analysis details how China is exploiting the war in Iran to maximize its advantage over the United States across military, economic, diplomatic and other fields, said two U.S. officials who have read the report. – Washington Post
Chinese companies have been discussing arms sales with Iran, plotting to send the weapons through other countries to mask the origins of the military aid, according to U.S. officials. – New York Times
As the United States works to rebuild its supply of missiles and munitions after deploying many of them in the war with Iran, its defense contractors will need a supply of rare-earth minerals and magnets that are essential to making those weapons. – New York Times
Human rights activists, lawmakers and family members are calling on President Trump to press China’s leader, Xi Jinping, for the release of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy media mogul, and Dong Yuyu, a prominent Chinese journalist, at the summit in Beijing. – New York Times
During President Trump’s first term, the United States led the way in pressuring China over its mass detention and surveillance of Uyghurs. It imposed sanctions on Chinese officials, blocked some imports thought to be linked to forced labor, and, on Mr. Trump’s last full day in office, officially declared China’s crackdown on the Uyghurs a genocide. – New York Times
More than halfway through his third term as China’s leader, Xi Jinping still remains one of the most opaque figures in global politics, his views on rivals and partners inferred from the tightly controlled choreography of his public appearances. – New York Times
A Chinese supertanker carrying two million barrels of Iraqi crude sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after being stranded in the Gulf for more than two months due to the U.S.-Iran war, LSEG and Kpler ship-tracking data showed. – Reuters
Beijing is “very disappointed” with plans in Europe to restrict investment from China, Chinese diplomat Qu Xun told a conference in Madrid on Wednesday, warning that such measures would push China to “close its door” to Europe. – Reuters
The U.S. and China are expected to inch toward a managed trade mechanism for non-sensitive goods this week, with each side possibly identifying some $30 billion worth of goods on which they could reduce tariffs and sell to each other without crossing national security red lines. – Reuters
Jillian Kay Melchior writes: Claire and Seb said this week they’re proud of their father, and I imagine he is equally proud of them. When Mr. Lai speaks of faith, you feel as if you’re being invited to partake in a noble mission, not lectured at, and Claire shares his gentle sincerity on the topic. Seb mirrors his father’s courage and clarity as he condemns what the Communists have done in Hong Kong. They carry a profound legacy. I hope Mr. Trump can ensure it isn’t yet an inheritance. – Wall Street Journal
Andreas Kluth writes: Should America, which is modernizing its nuclear triad, also increase the size of its arsenal to match the total of its adversaries? The answer is not obviously yes. But the odds are getting shorter of a new arms race among the great powers even as more countries consider testing and building their own nukes. For the US, China and the world, this reality means that nuclear instability and the risk of atomic holocaust, which after the Cold War seemed to be remote, are again rising. Trump has often said that he’s aware of the danger and wants to talk about it. Xi, as yet, doesn’t seem ready. As Air Force one lifts off in Beijing this week, judge this first summit of 2026 by the prospects it leaves that the two leaders will broach the biggest topic when they meet again. – Bloomberg
Sam Chetwin George writes: The American example shows that even indirect interventions cause downstream resentments, ongoing dependencies, and credibility commitments. More pressingly, a crisis involving Chinese nationals, a chokepoint resource, or a collapsing client state may force Beijing’s hand before any diplomatic cover is in place. In whatever form, intervention tends to escalate: interests require protection, protection requires presence, presence invites resistance, and resistance demands further protection. This mechanism animates the imperial machine and leads to potentially dangerous entanglements and overreach. Mao described U.S. military bases as the nooses that would eventually strangle the American empire. But as Beijing presses outward, it may discover that its global interests tighten into a snare of its own making. – Foreign Affairs
Zineb Riboua writes: A China that watches the US Treasury dismantle the financial architecture sustaining Iran must now calculate what a comparable designation campaign would do to the firms, banks and supply chains underwriting a move on Taiwan. For years, Washington sanctioned selectively, enforced sporadically and left the IRGC enough running room to treat US pressure as a cyclical inconvenience. Operation Economic Fury is the most coordinated effort yet to close that gap across revenue, logistics, and the firms sustaining both. The summit is the test of whether Washington maintains that pressure. – SkyNews Australia
South Asia
India has hiked tariffs on gold and silver imports, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned that the Middle East crisis was pressuring the country’s foreign-exchange reserves. – Wall Street Journal
Ambreen Fatima protested in Karachi with her children on Wednesday for the release of her husband, one of ten Pakistani crew aboard an oil tanker seized by Somali pirates 23 days ago, and who is now drinking dirty tank water to survive, she said. – Reuters
Foreign ministers from the BRICS nations began a two-day meeting in New Delhi on Thursday as the expanding bloc faces divisions over the war in Iran, rising energy prices and growing global economic uncertainty. – Associated Press
Clashes with insurgents in southwestern Pakistan’s embattled Balochistan province on Wednesday killed five soldiers, including an army major, the military said. An outlawed separatist group said it had attacked the soldiers. – Associated Press
India, the world’s second-largest sugar producer, has banned exports until the end of September, according to an official notice, as the government seeks to protect local supplies. – Bloomberg
India has asked the US to extend its waiver on Russian oil, according to people familiar with the matter, as the nearly 11-week war in the Persian Gulf disrupts energy supply. – Bloomberg
Asia
Nadiem Makarim was an Indonesian success story. A Harvard graduate, he built Gojek, the country’s alternative to Uber, into a super app that made him extremely wealthy. Then he joined the president’s cabinet. – New York Times
A Panama-flagged crude oil tanker managed by Japanese refining group Eneos (5020.T), has passed through the Strait of Hormuz, ship-tracking data from LSEG showed on Thursday, the second instance of such a Japan-linked ship making it through. – Reuters
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to visit Britain and Italy before attending a Group of Seven leaders’ summit in France in mid-June, broadcaster NTV reported on Wednesday, citing multiple unnamed government officials. – Reuters
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominated lawmaker Puma Shen on Wednesday as its candidate for Taipei mayor, a man who has been sanctioned by China for what Beijing has described as his support for “separatism”. – Reuters
Philippine authorities were seeking confirmation on Thursday of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. – Reuters
The Philippine Senate will convene as an impeachment court on May 18 ahead of the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, its president said on Thursday, with tensions flaring as the country’s most powerful political clans face off. – Reuters
The possibility that an entity other than Iran was responsible for the attack against a South Korean cargo vessel near the Strait of Hormuz is low, a senior official in Seoul was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency on Thursday. – Reuters
Malaysia’s oldest political party is welcoming back exiled and estranged members, and seeking to attract new ones, as it charts a return to power ahead of a vote that will test Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s hold on their coalition. – Bloomberg
Editorial: President Trump sees the world mainly through a lens of brute power politics. While such realism can be an asset, it may mislead him about the U.S. balance sheet in Asia. Taiwan is a technology powerhouse with a rule of law that will never exist in China as long as Mr. Xi rules. […] Taiwan is showing that it understands the free world has to be defended. Mr. Trump can reward the democracy’s defense boost by unlocking an arms-sale package that’s been held up amid mood setting for this week’s China summit. All the pageantry is in Beijing, but America’s most profound interests to protect are across the windy strait. – Wall Street Journal
Karishma Vaswani writes: Using Taiwan as leverage today may yield short-term gains for the US and Trump’s vision on global trade, but it risks long-term instability. To maintain the status quo — and peace in the strait — Washington should keep arms sales moving, deepen coordination with allies such as Japan and the Philippines, and prepare contingencies for a Chinese attack. Given the delicate nature of these discussions, the best outcome for Taiwan from this summit would be for Trump to say nothing at all. But with his track record, that’s just wishful thinking. – Bloomberg
Jean-Loup Samaan writes: Moreover, at the political level, the idea that such a naval mission remains a trans-Atlantic affair, even though Hormuz is an Asian crisis, underscores a painful reality: Even when Asian national security interests are at stake, Washington will struggle to build a coherent coalition. From that perspective, Hormuz can be considered a dry run, and a failed one, for the kind of coalition-building effort the United States would need in a conflict in the Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea. The lesson is not that Asian partners will act when the stakes are higher. It is that without a common institutional framework and a shared strategic culture — the kind the United States and Europe built through decades of NATO missions — a major crisis in the Indo-Pacific will not produce allied and combined responses. – War on the Rocks
Europe
The maker of Merops, the drone interceptor battle-tested in Ukraine and Iran, struck a deal to manufacture its product in Germany, in the latest move by Europe to capitalize on Ukrainian-related defense technology. – Wall Street Journal
After a big win in local elections and a leadership crisis for the governing Labour Party, it should have been a good week for Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain’s right-wing populist Reform U.K. party. Instead, Mr. Farage is mired in a controversy over a gift from his past. – New York Times
The French authorities have allowed a cruise line to resume normal operations after ordering more than 1,700 passengers and crew members to stay aboard while it docked in Bordeaux after dozens on board became ill, officials said. – New York Times
A French woman with hantavirus who had traveled on the MV Hondius cruise ship was critically ill on Wednesday, officials said, as the number of identified cases in the outbreak climbed to 11. – New York Times
When Prime Minister Keir Starmer led the Labour Party to victory in Britain’s last general election, in 2024, he campaigned on a platform of stability, selling his party as the antidote to years of chaos under a succession of Conservative prime ministers. – New York Times
French authorities are examining whether a foreign interference campaign aimed at a hard-left party ahead of March’s municipal elections was carried out at least in part by an obscure Israeli firm called BlackCore, according to three sources familiar with the matter. – Reuters
The Vatican on Wednesday urged a breakaway Catholic group dedicated to the old Latin mass to cancel plans to ordain new bishops without consent from Pope Leo, warning the action would incur excommunication from the 1.4-billion-member Church. – Reuters
Britain’s health minister Wes Streeting is preparing to resign and could quit as early as Thursday, the Times reported on Wednesday, adding that he is likely to mount a formal challenge for the party leadership. – Reuters
French prosecutors on Wednesday asked judges to send former President Nicolas Sarkozy to prison — again — this time for seven years and fine him 300,000 euros ($330,000) over allegations that the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi secretly funded his successful 2007 presidential campaign. – Associated Press
Angela Rayner, the UK’s former deputy prime minister, has been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing in an investigation into her tax affairs, potentially paving the way for a leadership bid against Prime Minister Keir Starmer. – Bloomberg
Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said the US has paused rotation of troops to Europe as the Pentagon reviews its deployment plans on the continent. – Bloomberg
The UK will introduce legislation to fast-track the adoption of EU rules with less parliamentary scrutiny, a move that would allow Prime Minister Keir Starmer to deepen ties with Brussels but which risks angering voters who supported Brexit. – Bloomberg
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition resolved to press ahead with reform measures in the coming weeks after a six-hour meeting meant to regain traction with the public produced few concrete agreements. – Bloomberg
Adrian Wooldridge writes: Italy has a remarkable record as a political laboratory. It pioneered fascism in the 1920s, the rule of the businessman entertainer in the 1990s and populism in the 2010s — in both its left-wing and right-wing guises. Meloni’s pragmatism also points the way to the future. The vision of right-wing culture warriors marching lockstep behind Trump in a civilizational conflict is for the birds. Europe’s populists risk extinction if they indulge in such distractions rather than learning how to properly run things. France’s Marine Le Pen has already adopted Meloni’s gentler approach on everything from Brussels to NATO. As Trump’s model collapses alongside his poll numbers, expect more to follow that lead. – Bloomberg
Michael Rubin writes: If Europe were serious, there should not be a single visa issued to a Turk, a Turkish Airlines flight overflying, let alone landing in Europe, and sanctions on every member of the Turkish armed forces. Brussels would react to Turkish threats to unleash refugees into Europe with threats to return every Turkish migrant and an end to the remittances they provide Turkey. Trump is right not to take European officials seriously. As the Europeans allow this occupation to continue, it is clear Europeans officials do not take themselves seriously either. – Washington Examiner
Africa
M23 rebels and the Rwandan army carried out killings, rapes and abductions during a month-long occupation of Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in late 2025 and early 2026, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday. – Reuters
A Nigerian court on Wednesday sentenced former power minister Saleh Mamman to 75 years in prison after convicting him of laundering 33.8 billion naira ($24.71 million), the country’s anti-graft agency said, a rare conviction against corrupt officials in the West African nation. – Reuters
A top official in South Africa’s African National Congress party threw his weight behind President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday over the “Farmgate” scandal in which thieves stole bundles of cash stuffed in a sofa on Ramaphosa’s ranch. – Reuters
Nigeria’s military said on Wednesday that there has been no evidence of civilian casualties from an airstrike on militants in the northwest Zamfara state this month, calling reports of large death tolls unverified and misleading. – Reuters
Two weeks of intense clashes in southern Sudan have killed over 61 people, including nine children, a local medical group said Wednesday, fighting that is part of the larger war that has gripped the African country since 2023. – Associated Press
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday concluded his Africa visit with talks in Ethiopia that covered, among other issues, the longstanding question of Africa’s representation on the U.N. Security Council. – Associated Press
Liam Karr writes: The Trump administration finds itself in a tricky situation. A US presence is needed to protect American security interests, but the region is roiled by regular coups, collapses, and revolutions. The current crisis in Mali may be an opportunity to get a leg up on Russia and address real counterterrorism concerns, but that opportunity will not come by rushing blindly into a partnership with unstable military governments that may not last long. Stringing together limited instances of cooperation can secure immediate aims and form the basis of a potential long term partnership, without binding the US to the region’s latest lost cause or sacrificing opportunities for cooperation with any new leaders that come to power. – The National Interest
The Americas
A man’s body, hands bound and covered by a blue tarp, lies by the side of the road where it had been dumped minutes earlier. A blood-soaked sign says he was a “Chapito,” a member of one of two criminal factions fighting for control of this city, the cradle of Mexico’s transnational narcotics industry. – Wall Street Journal
Venezuela said Wednesday it would begin a process of restructuring its towering government debt, seeking to take advantage of warming relations with the U.S. to normalize ties with creditors and regain access to international financial markets. – Wall Street Journal
U.S. military and intelligence agencies have increased surveillance flights around and near Cuba in recent weeks, several U.S. officials said. The effort is part of a publicly visible campaign experts say is aimed at sending Cuban authorities a message: we’re watching you. – New York Times
Protests broke out across the Cuban capital of Havana on Wednesday evening as the city confronted its worst rolling blackouts in decades amid a U.S. blockade that has starved the island of fuel. – Reuters
Opposition figures in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday criticized an agreement signed with the United States to have the Caribbean nation receive third-country deportees, saying it lacks transparency and violates national sovereignty. – Associated Press
Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro denied any wrongdoing Wednesday in his reported request for millions from jailed banker Daniel Vorcaro, a revelation that could harm the lawmaker’s expected run for the country’s presidency in October against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. – Associated Press
The number of people deported to El Salvador from the U.S. nearly doubled in the first months of 2026, according to official figures, coming as Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has positioned himself as an ally willing to help the Trump administration accelerate deportations, a central priority. – Associated Press
The western Canadian province of Alberta will appeal a court ruling that blocks a potential vote on separation from the country, after a judge found the government failed to meet its obligation to consult with Indigenous peoples. – Bloomberg
Arturo McFields writes: The Cuban dictatorship is more isolated than ever. Last month, the leftist Summit in Defense of Democracy gathering was held in Barcelona, Spain, with the primary objective of saving it from an imminent regime change. The event was a total failure. A dozen delegations participated, yet only the presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Spain signed a declaration attempting to halt the dawn of a free Cuba. Intelligence-gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance activities on the island — along with the recent inauguration of an unmanned warfare command conducting exercises in Florida, sanctions against the military and explicit statements by Trump — indicate that the fall of Cuba is drawing ever closer. Cuba is ready for its liberation day, and the U.S. seems to be ready to help. – The Hill
United States
A federal jury convicted a U.S. citizen on Wednesday of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for his part in establishing a police station in New York on behalf of Chinese authorities, the government’s second win this week alleging Americans secretly worked for Beijing. – Wall Street Journal
A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the Trump administration had most likely violated the law by deporting a Colombian woman to the Democratic Republic of Congo in April despite that country’s refusal to take her. – New York Times
A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked U.S. sanctions against Francesca Albanese, a U.N. expert on the Palestinian territories, finding that the Trump administration likely violated her free-speech rights by imposing the measures after she criticized U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza. – Reuters
U.S. Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked the latest Democratic-led effort to end the Iran war until it is authorized by Congress, but the measure edged closer to passage as a third Republican voted to advance the bill. – Reuters
A U.S. House of Representatives petition to force a floor vote on providing security aid to Ukraine and imposing new sanctions on Russia reached the 218-signature threshold to move ahead on Wednesday, the latest successful bid by lawmakers to defy the chamber’s Republican leadership. – Reuters
The United States hopes to convince China to play a more active role in trying to persuade Iran to walk away from what it is doing in the Gulf, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview aired on Fox News on Wednesday. – Reuters
Adela Cojab Moadeb writes: Under Mamdani, Muslim religious observances have become civic events: The mayor has personally participated in public tarawih prayers in Times Square and Ramadan celebrations across the five boroughs, lending the city’s imprimatur to gatherings where crowds chanted against Israel and prayed for Palestinian victory. That same mayor vetoed protections for Jewish schools. Mamdani wants the symbolism of Jewish life without the responsibility of protecting it. He wants the photo ops, the proclamations, the applause, but not the hard work of standing between a vulnerable community and those who would harm it. New Yorkers should take him at his word, not his tweets: Under this administration, Jewish safety is negotiable. – Washington Examiner
Cybersecurity
When Meta Platforms said in April that it would lay off 10% of its staff, Allen Sun quickly booked a trip to Menlo Park, Calif. It was a prime opportunity. Sun, a Beijing-based headhunter for some of the biggest Chinese tech companies, works to lure China-born talent back home, targeting people at U.S.-based companies such as Meta, Google, Anthropic and Amazon. – Wall Street Journal
OpenAI would support the creation of a global governance body for artificial intelligence led by the US and including China as a member, a top company executive said, hours before the start of President Donald Trump’s high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. – Bloomberg
In its latest war against Iran, Israel showed itself capable of fending off the vast majority of the hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones launched at it by the Islamic Republic. But shielding itself from Tehran’s digital arsenal has proved significantly harder. – Times of Israel
The head of Air Force Special Operations Command revealed that an AI-powered intelligence collection and transfer system has been in use since the “first day” of Operation Epic Fury to help large attack drones and manned aircraft avoid Iranian threats. – Military Times
The Marine Corps will require all Marines — active duty, reserve, officer and enlisted — to complete a basic artificial intelligence course by the end of the year, according to a Friday Marine Administrative Message, or MARADMIN. – Military Times
Alexander Benard and David Feith write: Mr. Xi understands that control over Taiwan would give Beijing both a military advantage and a chokehold on the physical infrastructure of the AI age. China wouldn’t need to operate every plant flawlessly to throw the global AI ecosystem into crisis. The mere prospect of coercive control, disruption or selective access would upend the balance of technological power. That is the backdrop of any Taiwan talk that comes up at the Trump-Xi summit. Until America can reproduce fabs as well as the packaging, bonding, testing, integration and supplier ecosystems around them, Taiwan’s autonomy will remain indispensable to U.S. interests. A country determined to win the defining technological race of the century can’t allow its chief rival to control the industrial base on which that race depends. – Wall Street Journal
Defense
The Pentagon abruptly canceled the deployment of an armored brigade to Poland, a major step toward President Trump’s plan to shrink the U.S. posture in Europe that caught some military officials by surprise. – Wall Street Journal
In nearly 14 hours of congressional testimony in recent weeks, Gen. Dan Caine was repeatedly asked versions of the same two questions: How had the world’s most powerful military allowed the Iranians to cut off the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and what could it do to get ships moving again? – New York Times
The US Army is fast-tracking a partnership with the defense startup Castelion as it looks to catch up with Russia and China in deploying hypersonic missiles after years of delays and high costs involving other contractors. – Bloomberg
The U.S. Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper fleet has fallen to roughly 135 aircraft as combat attrition from Operation Epic Fury cuts into the service’s most heavily used remotely piloted asset, the deputy chief of staff for plans and programs told senators Tuesday. – Military Times
The U.S. Navy needs an infusion of cash in the next two months to prevent interruptions in how it conducts military training and other operations, the service’s highest ranking officer told lawmakers on Tuesday. – Military Times
Israeli defense tech developer Smart Shooter has secured a $10.7 million contract with the US Army to supply its AI-powered SMASH fire control systems, the company announced this week. The deal will provide American soldiers with advanced “one-shot, one-hit” technology designed as a counter-drone weapons system. – Jerusalem Post
James Stavridis writes: For the US, stationing troops overseas has some financial costs — but pulling them back to the US could ultimately cost even more. The advantages for the US in overseas stations, meanwhile, are clear: Our forces are forward deployed near global hotspots; they deter attacks on our allies and ultimately ourselves; and they are constantly training and interacting with allies. Those are important benefits. On balance, while there can be day-to-day frustrations within our global network of allies, partners and friends, the benefits of overseas basing generally outweigh the downside. If we are going to reduce forces overall — a questionable decision given the turbulent geopolitics of the moment — let’s do it in careful consultation with our friends. A sudden, unplanned and angry departure can create more problems than it solves. – Bloomberg