Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israel kills Hamas’s ‘ghost’ after years of failed attempts Aging Palestinian leader boosting his son’s political rise, officials say Revised Iranian proposal to end war shared with US, Pakistani source says WSJ Editorial: Thwarting a homeland terror threat from Iran WSJ’s Seth Cropsey: How to finish the job in Iran Ukraine increases pressure on Russia with biggest strikes on Moscow this year Israel, Lebanon extend ceasefire by 45 days as Washington talks conclude The Iran war is crippling one of the world’s wealthiest nations China says it has agreed with U.S. to set up trade and investment bodies WSJ Editorial: The good-news-is-no-news China summit WHO declares global health emergency after Ebola outbreak in Congo U.S., Nigerian forces kill top Islamic State leaderIn The News
Israel
Israel killed Hamas’s military leader in Gaza, eliminating a long-sought target as it continues to hunt down militants linked to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack despite a continuing cease-fire. – Wall Street Journal
For years, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has held an iron grip on power by ousting rivals, sidelining the judiciary and cooperating with Israel on security. Mr. Abbas, 90, has now found another way to extend his influence: He has been positioning his son, Yasser, for a senior leadership role in Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority, according to six Palestinian officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. – New York Times
Israeli strikes killed at least eight Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, health officials said, as ceasefire efforts meant to end fighting between Israel and the Hamas militant group falter. – Reuters
Israel’s cabinet on Sunday approved a plan to build a defence compound on the site of the recently demolished premises of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in East Jerusalem. – Reuters
The International Criminal Court (ICC) denied a report in Israeli media on Sunday that it had issued new arrest warrants for five Israeli political and military officials for alleged crimes against Palestinians. – Reuters
The U.S. is considering asking Israel to give some tax money it is withholding from the Palestinian Authority to Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to fund the U.S. president’s post-war plan for Gaza, five sources familiar with the matter said. – Reuters
The lawyers of a Palestinian Gazan man have made a formal submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor demanding that 14 Hamas leaders be investigated for crimes committed against the Palestinian people. – Jerusalem Post
Hamas is looking to exploit the Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, in order to collect financial donations under a humanitarian or religious guise, Israeli public broadcaster KAN News reported on Thursday, citing Palestinian sources familiar with the details. – Jerusalem Post
Hamas failed to elect a new political leader, the terror group announced on Saturday night, promising another round of elections would soon take place. The current race will likely position either Hamas leader abroad, Khaled Mashaal, or senior Hamas politician Khalil al-Hayya as Hamas’s new leader. – Jerusalem Post
Ten Israeli civilians were arrested after crossing the Israel-Syria border, the IDF announced on Sunday night. IDF soldiers operating in the area returned the civilians from Syrian to Israeli territory, before transferring them to the Israel Police. – Jerusalem Post
The death penalty law for West Bank Palestinians convicted of deadly acts of terrorism came into effect Sunday night, after the commander of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen Avi Bluth, signed the military order necessary to enact the measure in the territory. – Times of Israel
Israel has been expanding the territory it controls in the Gaza Strip during the ceasefire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Sunday, pushing past the lines that were agreed upon in the US-brokered ceasefire that took effect last October. – Times of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to publicize his wartime visit to the United Arab Emirates — a trip that the UAE had reportedly asked to keep secret and which Abu Dhabi has publicly denied took place — was driven by internal political concerns over a planned trip to the Gulf state by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, a report said Sunday. – Times of Israel
Editorial: As the campaign season kicks off, the competing parties will all declare that their foremost concern is the country’s well-being. If that is truly the case, they would do well to pledge that, come what may, whether they sit in the coalition or the opposition, they will accept the results and allow the prime minister and his cabinet to steer the country through the tempestuous waters in which it finds itself. That does not mean genuflecting before every decision. But it does mean accepting the will of the people and respecting the direction the public, through the ballot box, signaled it wants the country to go. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
Iran seized a support vessel owned by a Chinese security firm near the Strait of Hormuz, appearing to signal it is unwilling to permit armed protection even for ships sailing on behalf of its strongest global backer. – Wall Street Journal
Iran has executed four prisoners this week on charges that include espionage and terrorism, according to Iranian news media, the latest in what rights groups say is a rapid escalation in the government’s use of the death penalty. – New York Times
Pakistan has shared with the U.S. a revised proposal from Iran to end the conflict in the Middle East, a Pakistani source told Reuters on Monday, as peace talks appeared to remain stalled. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened consequences for Iran if its leaders do not act quickly. “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. – Reuters
The Islamic Republic wants to charge the world’s largest tech companies for using the subsea internet cables laid under the Strait of Hormuz, and state-linked media outlets have vaguely threatened that traffic could be disrupted if firms don’t pay. Lawmakers in Tehran discussed a plan last week which could target submarine cables linking Arab countries to Europe and Asia. – CNN
Editorial: The arrest also underscores Iran’s continuing threat to Americans at home and abroad. Mr. Al-Saadi was allegedly a confidant of Qassem Soleimani, the IRGC chief killed by a U.S. missile in 2020. Reducing the money that Iran has to fund Iran’s multinational terror proxy network is one good result of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign. It’s one more reason for the President to press ahead until he achieves his military and strategic goals in Iran. – Wall Street Journal
Seth Cropsey writes: Mr. Trump’s objective shouldn’t be to bluff the Iranians out. Instead it should be to demonstrate that if push comes to shove, the U.S. will commit to an overwhelming confrontation that breaks the Iranian state economically and politically. An air campaign approximating the war’s first week, which disoriented Iranian capabilities, is possible now that the dust has settled around Iran’s leadership. Defeating Iran is paramount. On a successful outcome rests the credibility of American deterrence, the safety of international sea lanes, a return to the normalcy of global energy markets, and the regional stability that is key to all these goods. The president should finish what he rightly started. – Wall Street Journal
Paul J. Saunders writes: The bottom line is that a long-term shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz is a card, but is not a checkmate move. This doesn’t mean that administration officials can get everything they want from Tehran; if they negotiate successfully, the outcome will inherently be a compromise. What it does mean is that Iran’s leaders could face grave risks if they fail to secure an agreement with Washington before they force US and global economies to absorb lasting damage. – The National Interest
Mohammed Ghaedi writes: The recent visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to China, shortly before President Donald Trump’s trip to Beijing, may have included discussions related to a possible Chinese mediation. However, it remains unclear how far Beijing is willing to go in directly involving itself in the process. Even so, the broader strategic logic is difficult to ignore. Pakistan was able to help open channels of communication, but China possesses a much greater ability to influence the wider political and economic calculations surrounding the conflict. While major obstacles to a lasting settlement remain, Beijing may be better positioned than most outside powers to offer the combination of diplomatic leverage, economic opportunity, and regional relationships needed to help move the current fragile ceasefire toward a more durable peace. – The National Interest
Russia and Ukraine
Kyiv and its residents are bouncing back from the darkest winter of the war. Russia struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure more than 1,400 times with missiles and drones dating to last July, according to an official Ukrainian tally. The attacks plunged cities into darkness and cut heat, leaving Kyiv residents such as Kosova and others in her apartment block on Tychyna Avenue freezing and miserable. – Wall Street Journal
Ukraine launched its biggest strikes on Moscow in more than a year, with dozens of drones attacking Russia’s capital in an audacious raid. The Sunday strikes, which Russia said killed three civilians, demonstrate Kyiv’s growing ability to launch long-range strikes as it seeks to damage the Kremlin’s war and oil industries and bring the war home to Russians. – Wall Street Journal
Days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said cryptically that he believed the war in Ukraine was “coming to a close,” bloodshed and tumult unfolded in each country, suggesting there is no end in sight. – Washington Post
Russia launched drones, airstrikes and shelling at Ukraine overnight, targeting cities such as Odessa in the south and Dnipro in the southeast, killing one person and injuring more than 30, Ukrainian officials said on Monday. – Reuters
Russian troops have taken control of the settlements of Borova and Kutkivka in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the RIA state news agency reported on Saturday, citing the Defence Ministry. – Reuters
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Monday he had a “constructive and substantive” call with his Hungarian counterpart Anita Orban over the weekend. – Reuters
The Kremlin has approved new measures allowing citizens from Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria to gain Russian citizenship more easily, Russia’s state media reported Friday night. – Associated Press
Hezbollah
An IDF officer was killed in a Hezbollah explosive drone attack in southern Lebanon on Friday, the military announced Saturday evening, as limited fighting continued with the Iran-backed terror group despite a newly extended ceasefire. – Agence France-Presse
Hezbollah may resort to assassinating political rivals in Lebanon as its grip on the country weakens, according to a Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC)-affiliated expert who spoke with The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
Even if Israel occupies southern Lebanon through military force, it will not be able to destroy all of Hezbollah’s explosive drones or rockets, Israeli public broadcaster Kan News reported on Sunday morning, citing a security source. – Jerusalem Post
Iraq
A high-level member of an Iraqi militia with ties to Iran planned attacks on Jewish sites in major U.S. cities including Los Angeles and New York, according to charges filed Friday in New York. – Wall Street Journal
Israel spent over a year preparing a covert site in Iraq for its operations against Iran, regional officials say. Iraqi officials later confirmed the existence of a second base. – New York Times
Supertanker Agios Fanourios I is heading for Vietnam to discharge its Iraqi crude oil cargo after it was held by the U.S. Navy for five days in the Gulf of Oman, shipping data on LSEG showed. – Reuters
Iraq exported 10 million barrels of oil via the Strait of Hormuz in April, down from about 93 million barrels monthly before the Iran war, the country’s new oil minister, Basim Mohammed, said at a press conference on Saturday. – Reuters
Lebanon
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 45-day extension of a ceasefire that has tamped down the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, as two days of talks facilitated by Washington concluded on Friday with an agreement to hold further meetings in the coming weeks. – Reuters
IDF reservist soldiers on the border with Lebanon are compelled to enter Lebanese territory, putting themselves at risk, despite not being eligible for benefits associated with the added risk, KAN News reported on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
A roadside bomb hit four Israel Defense Forces soldiers overnight in south Lebanon, leaving one of them in serious condition, the military said Sunday. – Times of Israel
Gulf States
A drone strike set off a fire near the United Arab Emirates’ nuclear-power station, authorities in the Persian Gulf state said, a sign of the growing risks as the Iran war drags on. – Wall Street Journal
The U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia are now trying to re-establish deterrence against an Iranian regime that is less willing to compromise and holds new leverage over rivals with its chokehold on Strait of Hormuz and deep supplies of missiles and drones that are draining the Gulf’s stockpiles of munitions needed to intercept them. – Wall Street Journal
In Qatar, a desert peninsula protruding into the Persian Gulf, natural gas turned the country from a pearl-diving backwater into one of the world’s wealthiest nations. Qatar spent three decades building supply lines, shipping tens of billions of dollars of liquefied natural gas each year through the Strait of Hormuz to ports across Asia and Europe. – New York Times
The United Arab Emirates’ decision to withdraw from OPEC and OPEC+ was a sovereign and strategic choice based on a comprehensive assessment of its production policy and future capabilities, the UAE energy minister, Suhail Al Mazrouei, said on Saturday in a post on X. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia on Sunday said it intercepted three drones after they entered its territory from Iraqi airspace. The kingdom’s defense ministry said it would take the necessary operational measures to respond to any attempt to violate its sovereignty and security. – Reuters
After facing barrages of Iranian missiles that threatened its economic future, the UAE has moved closer to Israel, widening a split with ally-turned-rival Saudi Arabia and placing it in defiant opposition to Tehran. – Agence France-Presse
David B. Roberts writes: For Gulf states, the instinct to remain within the U.S. security embrace reflects a century of institutional habit, elite socialization, and the sunk cost of an architecture that has occasionally delivered. But security cannot be purchased from abroad; it must be built at home. The United States will leave the region eventually, regardless of what the monarchies prefer. The only question is whether the Gulf countries shape the terms of that departure or are shaped by them. – Foreign Affairs
Middle East & North Africa
Hundreds of Tunisians protested in the capital Tunis on Saturday against President Kais Saied, accusing him of undermining freedoms and presiding over a worsening economic and social crisis. – Reuters
Syria has appointed Safwat Raslan, head of the Syrian Development Fund, as central bank governor while former Governor Abdelkader Husriyeh was named ambassador to Canada, state media reported on Friday. – Reuters
A Turkish flotilla of 53 vessels, organized by the IHH, the same group behind the Mavi Marmara flotilla, is reportedly en route to Israel. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
These are some of the items featured in a new memorial in Pyongyang dedicated to North Korea’s participation in Russia’s war against Ukraine. The museum-cum-shrine blends propaganda exalting the regime of leader Kim Jong Un with a message of fealty to Russia, a country that is increasingly vital to North Korea’s security and economic well-being. – Wall Street Journal
A North Korean women’s soccer team arrived on Sunday in South Korea, the first athletes from the North to set foot in the South in seven and a half years, despite political tensions so inflamed that the countries’ governments are not on speaking terms. – New York Times
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said plans to strengthen frontline units on the border with South Korea, as well as other major units, were key to “more thoroughly deterring war,” state media KCNA reported on Monday. – Reuters
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call on Sunday and discussed the outcome of the U.S.-China summit meeting, the South Korean Blue House presidential office said in a statement on Sunday. – Reuters
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will hold a summit meeting on Tuesday, Lee’s office said on Sunday, adding it would be a meaningful opportunity to deepen trust and friendship. – Reuters
Moon Chung-in writes: Fourth and finally, I think Lee Jae-myung won’t take many risks in foreign policy. His primary emphasis is on protecting South Korean lives and property. This is the first duty of the state for him. Accordingly, he will try to pursue a very cautious, prudent “mini-max” approach—minimize risk and, within that constraint, maximize benefit. If he adheres to these four features faithfully, there is no way he can fail. He’s not trying to make a big success. He wants to achieve small successes. It would be hard to criticize him for that. I hope he will continue in the same way for the remaining four years. – The National Interest
Min-Cheol Jung writes: South Korea will fall short of 500,000 drone warriors on whatever schedule the Ministry of National Defense eventually settles on. What matters is that the clearest visible test of allied drone capacity under demographic and industrial constraint is already underway, and the Washington policy conversation still frames it as an equipment gap. Pyongyang’s launcher rollout is not a ceiling — it is a floor under what the next cycle will deliver. Seoul’s 500,000 warriors plan, announced and now funded at 33 billion won for 2026, is being built against a moving target. War on the Rocks has already examined how fast North Korea’s drone program is moving. The harder work belongs to Seoul: The Republic of Korea built the manpower system that is now collapsing, signed the supply chains it now wants to unwind, and announced the 500,000 number against constraints it has not solved. The harder question Washington cannot answer through equipment transfers is who will still be in uniform to train the next cohort of conscripts, and which ministries will work together to build a drone industry that does not depend on Shenzhen. – War on the Rocks
China
China said Saturday that it had agreed with the U.S. to establish bilateral boards of trade and investment, fulfilling one expected outcome of President Trump’s visit to Beijing and solidifying a commercial truce between the world’s two largest economies. – Wall Street Journal
President Donald Trump embraced a name for this week’s summit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, riffing on the Group of Seven meeting of the world’s largest economies. – Washington Post
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will go to China next week for talks with its leader, Xi Jinping, just days after President Trump’s visit to Beijing, the Kremlin said on Saturday. – New York Times
President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had discussed U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing, a step that may have tested Washington’s decades-old assurance to Taiwan not to “consult” on the sensitive topic with China. – New York Times
China has agreed to ramp up trade for U.S. agricultural products such as beef and poultry, buying at an annualized rate of $17 billion per year for 2026 and at that level for 2027 and 2028, the White House announced Sunday, two days after President Donald Trump returned from a high-stakes summit in Beijing where he sought to ease the impact on American farmers from the trade war he launched last year. – Associated Press
Editorial: The U.S. President ladled his usual flattery on Mr. Xi as a “great” and “powerful” leader, and said the two are now fast friends. The best we can say is that this is typical Trump behavior toward dictators, whom he seems to believe he can charm into good relations. Mr. Xi’s restraint, by contrast, made it appear as if he viewed Mr. Trump as the beseeching party in the relationship. All of this fits Mr. Trump’s second-term desire to seek a stable relationship with China. He is cultivating Mr. Xi as a partner now, not an adversary. We’ll believe this is possible when Mr. Xi stops bullying his neighbors and stops trying to undermine U.S. interests any chance he gets around the world. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: The Chinese Communist Party remains untrustworthy. Beijing has previously demanded U.S. concessions in exchange for creating deconfliction channels, but military leaders haven’t always picked up when their American counterparts call during a crisis. The lesson from these vexing experiences is that talking is fine but not in exchange for concessions. The Chinese won’t give up anything that might allow them to leapfrog America on AI. – Washington Post
Fareed Zakaria writes: In an age of artificial intelligence, cyber warfare and nuclear weapons, maintaining channels of cooperation is more important than ever. The two countries should compete fiercely while still trading, talking and collaborating where possible — on nuclear stability, AI safety, pandemics and financial crises. During the Cold War, Washington and Moscow maintained arms-control talks even at moments of intense hostility because both sides understood that unmanaged rivalry could end in catastrophe. That remains true today. And if Trump — for reasons rooted less in philosophy than instinct — has come to recognize this basic reality, then on this issue at least, his pragmatism makes sense. – Washington Post
Rebecca Lissner and Mira Rapp-Hooper write: Moreover, far from creating a pacifying balance of power between Washington and Beijing, a Chinese sphere of influence in Asia would make catastrophic crisis or conflict much more likely. Although Trump may treat small concessions on Taiwan as gestures aimed to stabilize the bilateral U.S.-Chinese relationship, Beijing may come to see those concessions—combined with U.S. distraction and military depletion—as an opportunity. If Trump ceased arms sales to Taiwan, for instance, China might be more emboldened to ramp up its coercion against the island, which would threaten the chips on which the United States’ semiconductor, AI, and other key industries depended. If Congress, a future president, or even Trump himself then decided to reverse course to protect a critical partner, Washington would face the harrowing choice between coping with China’s chokehold over Taiwan and the global economy or fighting its way back into a sphere Beijing believes it has been bestowed. – Foreign Affairs
South Asia
India’s free trade deal with Britain, initially expected to be implemented by May, has hit an expected hurdle over the UK’s new steel import curbs, India’s trade secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Friday. – Reuters
Pakistan is repatriating 11 of its nationals and 20 Iranians from vessels seized in the high seas by the U.S., Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday. – Reuters
Militants stormed a security outpost in Pakistan’s northwest, ramming a vehicle filled with explosives into the camp before waging a gun battle that killed at least eight troops and injured 35 others, two security officials said on Friday. – Reuters
Mihir Sharma writes: Fixing these gaps is overdue. It’s a moral necessity, as both the lockdown and this latest crisis prove. But it’s also an economic one. Migration to the towns is the engine of development and growth; without people coming in to work, vital sectors from construction to manufacturing would grind to a halt. The laborer who told the Guardian that he’d been days without a proper meal was apparently working at the site where a new airport for New Delhi is coming up. The vast infrastructure projects that Modi hopes will transform the country depend upon those like him. In a real sense, the very people who are constructing a new India are the ones its government ignores. – Bloomberg
Asia
The Philippine Senate was due to convene as an impeachment court on Monday that could decide the future of Vice President Sara Duterte, with a heated battle between two rival political camps set to be front and centre in the trial. – Reuters
Taiwan will not be sacrificed or traded and will not give up its free way of life under pressure, President Lai Ching-te wrote on Facebook on Sunday, adding that U.S. arms sales to the island were a security commitment based on law. – Reuters
Karishma Vaswani writes: Lai has a much tougher job. On May 20 — the second anniversary of taking office — he will likely address a nervous citizenry. Over the weekend, he said the expression “Taiwan independence” means the island neither belongs to nor is subordinate to Beijing and that only the Taiwanese people can decide their future. Reassurance will be vital. Trump has treated one of the most sensitive geopolitical issues of our time with astonishing thoughtlessness. As a result, the Taiwan Strait has just become far more dangerous. – Bloomberg
Europe
Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Friday assailed the Pentagon’s decision to cancel the deployment of an armored brigade to Poland, saying the move caught them and U.S. allies by surprise. Mike Rogers, the Alabama Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, complained that lawmakers had not been consulted before the nine-month rotation to Poland was canceled. – Wall Street Journal
A car plowed into a group of pedestrians and injured at least eight people on the main shopping street of a northern Italian city on Saturday afternoon, the mayor said. – New York Times
The streets of the British capital hosted an ideological split-screen on Saturday as separate far-right and pro-Palestinian demonstrators competed for attention in dueling protests. – New York Times
Belarus, which hosts Russian nuclear weapons, said on Monday its armed forces had begun training on how to deploy them in the field. – Reuters
A suspected Ukrainian military drone was found crashed in Lithuania on Sunday, the Lithuanian government’s National Crisis Management Centre said. – Reuters
U.S. special envoy Jeff Landry, appointed by President Donald Trump last year to push for American control of Greenland, arrived in Nuuk on Sunday, local media reported. – Reuters
A French judge has been appointed to lead an inquiry over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the country’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office (PNAT) said on Saturday, after a court ruled the case admissible. – Reuters
Former health minister Wes Streeting said on Saturday that he would challenge British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in any leadership contest held, days after stepping down and urging Starmer to set a timetable for his departure. – Reuters
German prosecutors said on Friday a German judge had enforced an arrest warrant against a Ukrainian national suspected of spying for Russia. – Reuters
Lionel Laurent writes: Yet strong leaders are in short supply. Starmer wants the UK back “at the heart” of Europe, but he hasn’t mapped out how or on what terms. And investors and bankers in Paris last week for a JPMorgan conference saw no good outcome from the British political drama — and felt little optimism for a new dawn of EU ties because of France and Germany’s own populist problems. For all Dimon’s hope that things will improve, his pointed warning that his bank might rethink its new shiny London HQ if Labour takes a leftward turn shows nobody’s feeling very diplomatic these days. – Bloomberg
Africa
The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, warning that the epidemic could still be spreading undetected. – Wall Street Journal
U.S. and Nigerian forces killed Islamic State’s alleged No. 2, a man linked to terrorist attacks against religious minorities and the mass kidnapping of schoolchildren, officials said. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Mainuki guided Islamic State “on matters relating to media operations, economic warfare and the development and manufacturing of weapons, explosives and drones,” Maj. Gen. Samaila Uba, spokesman for Nigeria’s armed forces, said in a release Saturday. – Wall Street Journal
A handful of Americans in the Democratic Republic of Congo may have been exposed to suspected cases of Ebola in an unusually large outbreak there that the WHO has declared to be a public health emergency. At least one individual with symptoms may need to be medically evacuated, according to two individuals familiar with the Trump administration’s Ebola response who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions. – Washington Post
Comoros announced the temporary suspension on Saturday of new fuel prices introduced in response to the Iran war, backing down after the hikes prompted demonstrations and deadly clashes across the East African archipelago. – Reuters
At least 17 police officers were killed in Nigeria’s northeast Yobe state after suspected Islamist militants attacked a specialised military school that also trains police officers, the national police spokesman said late on Saturday. – Reuters
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has signed into law a contentious measure that he says aims to curb foreign influence in the country despite heavy criticism from quarters such as the central bank, warning it could trigger “economic disaster”. – Reuters
A wave of militant attacks on schools in Nigeria over the past week has left more than 80 children missing, local officials and a rights group said Sunday, the latest in school abductions in the West African country where the government is battling an array of jihadi and other armed groups. – Associated Press
An unspecified number of students are missing after suspected jihadi militants attacked a secondary school in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state on Friday, police told The Associated Press. – Associated Press
Uganda postponed an annual religious holiday usually held on June 3 following an outbreak of the Ebola virus in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. – Bloomberg
Somali pirates are profiting from the war in Iran as commercial ships, bypassing conflict routes through lengthy detours around Africa, sail into their strike zone. – CNN
The Americas
Venezuelan official Alex Saab, a Colombian-Venezuelan businessman and ally of former President Nicolas Maduro, was deported to the United States, Venezuela’s migration agency, SAIME, said on Saturday. – Reuters
Peru’s top electoral authority pledged on Sunday to correct “flaws” that delayed April’s first-round election results by a month ahead of a presidential runoff scheduled for June 7. – Reuters
Two campaign workers for right-wing Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo De La Espriella in the country’s southeast were killed just two weeks before the presidential election, his party Defenders of the Homeland said on Saturday. – Reuters
Peru’s leftist presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez will face Keiko Fujimori in the June runoff after narrowly securing second place in April’s first‑round vote, official results showed Friday, with all votes tallied. – Reuters
North America
Now, the Trump administration intends to prosecute the frail patriarch and former president on criminal charges, shifting the pressure campaign from broad sanctions against Cuba’s government toward accountability for a man who symbolizes the Communist regime’s power structure. – Wall Street Journal
Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta agreed Friday to a stringent levy on carbon from its energy producers, the first of a series of conditions it has to meet before Prime Minister Mark Carney backs a new crude-carrying pipeline to the Pacific Coast. – Wall Street Journal
A former Sinaloa state security chief accused in the U.S. of taking bribes from drug-cartel kingpins was arrested in Arizona this week in a case that has rocked diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Mexico. – Wall Street Journal
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the U.S. on Sunday of fabricating a “fraudulent case” to justify economic sanctions and potential military intervention. – Reuters
Ten people, including a minor, were killed in an armed attack in Mexico’s Puebla state on Sunday, the state’s public security ministry said. The victims — six men, three women, and a child — were targeted by armed individuals in the municipality of Tehuitzingo, the state ministry added. – Reuters
CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s visit to Havana this week aboard a not-very-clandestine airplane emblazoned with the words “United States of America” was deeply shocking for many Cubans, and the clearest sign yet that tensions are reaching critical mass. – CNN
United States
Thousands of people gathered on the National Mall on Sunday for a daylong rally blending Christian prayer and political fervor, a gathering President Trump had touted as an opportunity to “rededicate America as one nation under God.” – New York Times
The Republican bid to provide $1 billion for President Trump’s White House ballroom project in a filibuster-proof budget bill hit a significant roadblock on Saturday when the Senate’s top parliamentary referee ruled that the money did not qualify to be included in the measure. – New York Times
Colorado Governor Jared Polis has commuted the prison sentence of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County election clerk who was sentenced last year to serve nine years in state prison for carrying out one of the most serious election-related data breaches in U.S. history. – Cyberscoop
Michael Jacobson writes: The second Trump administration has made clear in its first sixteen months that it is pursuing a counterterrorism approach very different from previous administrations. Even as the new strategy confirms this shift, it leaves unanswered many questions about how this vision will be realized. When the Iran war ends, the administration will need to outline how the resulting environment has affected its priorities and resource allocation so as to protect U.S. nationals and interests against threats from the Middle East. – Washington Institute
Cybersecurity
Samsung Electronics and its labour union started talks on Monday in a last-ditch bid to avert the biggest strike in the tech giant’s history, amid concern that a walkout by more than 45,000 workers could hit South Korea’s economy and disrupt global supply chains. – Reuters
An Indian court has told Apple to “fully cooperate” with investigators in an antitrust case related to the iPhone apps market, not agreeing with the U.S. company’s request to put the case on hold while it challenges the law governing antitrust penalties. – Reuters
Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic is set to brief the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on cyber vulnerabilities in the global financial system identified by its latest AI model, Mythos, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the plan. – Reuters
Arm Holdings faces an antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the British chip designer’s licensing of its semiconductor technology, part of global scrutiny of the business, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. – Reuters
Parmy Olson writes: For all the talk of Londonmaxxing — the idea that Britain’s capital has become the hottest hub to start an AI company thanks to its dense talent pool — actually raising large-scale funding from domestic sources is a major stumbling block for startups here and across the region. Of the €10 trillion ($11.6 trillion) managed by pension funds across Europe, only 0.01% goes to venture funding, according to research by London-based venture capital firm Atomico. Venture funds in the US get three times as much investment by comparison. That culture of conservatism explains why the multi-billion-dollar funding rounds for British startups here are being almost entirely funded by international money. It may also illuminate a similar hesitation among government departments for buying locally. – Bloomberg
Defense
Four crew members involved in a mid-air collision of military jets at an air show ejected safely on Sunday outside Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, the U.S. Navy said. – Reuters
At one point during Exercise Balikatan 2026 in the Philippines, one regiment of the U.S. Marine Corps had personnel strewn across 17 locations in the archipelago, giving forces a chance to flex their muscle in dispersed, expeditionary operations. – Defense News
Almost a year after it departed, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) returned Saturday to Naval Station Norfolk, Va., wrapping up the longest carrier strike group deployment since the last days of the Vietnam War. – USNI
David Deptula and Jahara Matisek write: Missiles are a powerful tool of modern war, but they do not substitute for strategy. Strategy emerges from integrating defense with offense, resilience with disruption, and survivability with offensive counter-air operations that reduce adversary capacity rather than merely enduring it. Designing U.S. posture, sustainment, and campaign concepts around that reality is the difference between deterrence grounded in capability and deterrence eroded by fatalism. – War on the Rocks
Tyler Bowen writes: If successful, this approach could put a lid on the emerging trilateral nuclear arms race, push geopolitical competition into areas such as AI and other cyber technologies, and free up resources for the United States to spend on other domestic and foreign policy priorities. If, however, China continues to expand its arsenal of nuclear weapons platforms at a frenetic pace after 2030 and Russia decides to expand its nuclear arsenal, the United States may have no choice but to deploy more nuclear warheads. In this pessimistic scenario, by investing in its nuclear enterprise, the United States will at least have bought itself time to prepare to accept the strategic costs of engaging in a more intense nuclear arms race. – War on the Rocks