Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Yemen’s Houthis strike Israel near main airport Israel plans to control aid distribution in Gaza, use U.S. contractors JPost Editorial: Israel cannot leave Houthi threat in US hands Iran says its stance toward nuclear talks with U.S. remains constant WSJ Editorial: Where’s that maximum pressure on Iran? Ukrainian naval drones shoot down Russian jets in military first, Kyiv says Israeli warplanes strike near Syria’s presidential palace Russia says willing to help resolve India-Pakistan differences over Kashmir WSJ Editorial: The Trump effect hits Australia Teenage terrorists are a growing threat to Europe’s security Sudan’s army says paramilitary forces struck civilian targets Trump, Mexico’s Sheinbaum spar over drug cartelsIn The News
Israel
Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile that struck near Israel’s main airport on Sunday, marking a rare hit of a significant target by the group, which has fired dozens of missiles since Israel’s war on Hamas began, hours ahead of a vote by Israel’s cabinet seeking to expand ground operations in Gaza. – Wall Street Journal
Israel plans to take control of — and severely restrict — the distribution of humanitarian aid inside the Gaza Strip, using private American security contractors, as a condition for lifting its two-month blockade of supplies into the enclave, according to current and former Israeli officials, aid workers and other individuals with knowledge of the plan. – Washington Post
Israel will call up tens of thousands of reservists, military officials said Sunday, as the country’s political leadership considers expanding the Israel Defense Forces’ area of operations and overhauling the distribution of food within the Gaza Strip. – Washington Post
When Pope Francis visited Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2014, he crisscrossed the traditional birthplace of Jesus in a white popemobile manufactured especially for his visit. Now, the vehicle is being transformed into a mobile health clinic to treat ill and wounded Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip — an initiative that Pope Francis blessed in the months before he died. – New York Times
Hamas has executed a number of alleged looters after several incidents in which heavily armed gangs attacked food stores and community kitchens in the Gaza Strip this week, sources close to the Palestinian militant group said. – Reuters
European and U.S. carriers cancelled flights for the next several days after a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Sunday landed near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, the country’s main international travel gateway. – Reuters
Israel called on Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, to “stop playing both sides with its double talk and decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas”, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said on Saturday. – Reuters
Hamas on Saturday released a video purportedly of a hostage held in Gaza whom Israeli media identified as Maxim Herkin. The video is undated and edited, however, the man makes references to Israel’s Independence Day, which took place last week, and identifies himself as among the 59 hostages in Gaza. – Reuters
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Thursday urged the international community to protect Syria’s Druze minority from the country’s new leadership, after 73 people were said to have been killed during two days of sectarian clashes in largely Druze areas. – Agence France-Presse
Editorial: The cabinet’s deliberations on what the response to the Houthis’ continued brazen acts of war against Israel should culminate in only one conclusion and plan of action: Despite the best intentions of the US, Israel must be responsible for its own security and must respond to the Houthis in the strongest possible way. It’s time to end the outsourcing. No other country would put up with a foreign entity launching ballistic missiles at it on a daily basis. Israel shouldn’t, not for one day longer. – Jerusalem Post
Avi Abelow writes: The same jihadist terror that slaughters Druze today will come for us tomorrow. The same regime that butchers minorities in the Syrian city of Sweida would happily unleash terror in the Golan. And if Israel does not step up and shape the future of Syria’s southern region, Iran, Hezbollah, ISIS, and other terror entities will. We can no longer afford to be prisoners of the old way of thinking – waiting for America, Europe, or the UN to “save” anyone in this region. That world no longer exists, if it ever did. Israel must now embrace its responsibility, and we must make it clear to our leadership: The future of this region will either be shaped by Israel, or it will be shaped against us. Let’s stop calling for others to act. Let’s be who we already are: a moral superpower with the strength to change the course of history. For the Druze. For the region. For Israel. And for the world. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
President Trump threatened to cut off buyers of Iranian oil or petrochemicals from doing business with the U.S., a warning that in effect targets China while putting more pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program. – Wall Street Journal
Iran remains committed to diplomacy with the United States, the government said on Monday, after a fourth round of nuclear talks with Washington was postponed over the weekend. – Reuters
Iran’s Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said on Sunday that Tehran would strike back if the United States or Israel attacked. Nasirzadeh’s comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate against Iran for the Tehran-backed Houthi group firing a missile that landed near Israel’s main airport. – Reuters
Iran has to ‘walk away’ from uranium enrichment and long-range missile development and it should allow Americans to inspect its facilities, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday as a round of nuclear talks was postponed. – Reuters
Iran’s defense ministry Sunday unveiled the country’s latest solid-fueled ballistic missile, state TV reported, against a backdrop of threats from the United States over its nuclear program. – Associated Press
Editorial: In March the Trump Administration sanctioned a Chinese refinery. We called it “the first real proof that ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions are on their way back” because it can serve as a beachhead for a broader sanctions campaign that could change China’s risk calculus. In April the U.S. sanctioned another refinery. But one a month, as nuclear negotiations are underway, hasn’t made a difference. To back his diplomacy, the President has threatened to support military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program. We don’t know if Iran finds that credible, but the Administration limits its options and does negotiator Steve Witkoff no favors by waiting to bring the economic heat. – Wall Street Journal
Reza Nasri writes: Opposing this apparatus is not a symbolic gesture. It is the essential step toward reclaiming U.S. foreign policy from the grip of obscure networks and aligning it with the preferences of the American people. In this context, a successful agreement with Iran would not only mark a diplomatic breakthrough — it would demonstrate that Trump has asserted control over the machinery that for decades has dictated the terms of war and peace in Washington. – The Hill
Russia and Ukraine
In their deepening alliance, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has helped Russian President Vladimir Putin withstand the pressure of the Ukraine war by sending him soldiers and arms. The latest gift from Kim: workers. A lack of workers ranks among Putin’s biggest problems—one created by the country’s sliding birthrate and exacerbated by the war. – Wall Street Journal
Ukraine said it downed two Russian jet fighters using sea drones equipped with modified U.S.-made missiles, in what military officials in Kyiv said is the first such attack in the history of warfare. Magura-7 sea drones deployed by Ukraine’s military-intelligence agency, known as HUR, fired the missiles at two Su-30 jets that were flying near the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, HUR said. – Wall Street Journal
Three years into the war, Putin’s opposition is divided and diffuse. Its activists lead marches through European capitals, publishing anti-Putin tirades and feuding with each other on social media. Others lie low in Russia. A small number risk jail or death by setting fire to army-recruitment offices or sabotaging rail lines inside the country. – Wall Street Journal
Russian communities are facing a surge in crimes from both returning veterans and criminals using the war to get out of jail. But in Putin’s new Russia, soldiers are the new heroes, and tough wartime censorship laws leave little room to criticize them. – Washington Post
Concern is growing in Moscow that Russia could lose its edge in talks with the United States over the Ukraine war now that Kyiv has finally signed an economic partnership agreement giving Washington preferential access to future Ukrainian mineral deals. – Washington Post
Ukraine is getting more help in its war with Russia. A Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel will be sent to Ukraine after it is refurbished, four current and former U.S. officials said in recent days, and Western allies are discussing the logistics of Germany or Greece giving another one. – New York Times
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said Ukraine will not adhere to a three-day cease-fire proposed by Russia, saying such a short truce would not help in negotiations for a lasting peace. – New York Times
President Vladimir Putin said in remarks published on Sunday that Russia had sufficient strength and resources to take the war in Ukraine to its logical conclusion, though he hoped that there would be no need to use nuclear weapons. – Reuters
Ukraine’s air defence units shot down 42 of 116 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack that hit the regions of Sumy and Donetsk, the military said on Monday. – Reuters
A Russian overnight drone attack on Ukraine’s capital injured at least 11 people, including two children, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Sunday for a real ceasefire lasting at least a month in the more than three-year-old war. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he discussed air defence systems and sanctions on Russia with Donald Trump on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican, in what he called the best meeting the two had ever had. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen and that he hopes it will not. In comments aired Sunday in a film by Russian state television about his quarter of a century in power, Putin said Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion.” – Associated Press
Timothy Naftali writes: Despite Trump’s apparently cordial conversation with Zelensky at the Vatican on the margins of Pope Francis’s funeral last week, and the minerals deal that soon followed, a photograph of Putin and Zelensky shaking hands on the White House lawn is unlikely. The prospect that Trump’s negotiations will earn him the Nobel he so publicly covets seems highly remote. To the extent that the president cares about Putin’s next steps in Europe, he should bear in mind a lesson from the least known of these three cases: the appetites of imperialists grow with the eating. – Foreign Affairs
Syria
Israeli warplanes struck near Syria’s presidential palace in Damascus before dawn Friday, in the most direct brushback to the former Islamist rebels who now run the country. – Wall Street Journal
Syria’s main Druse militias, who control a strategic swath of southern Syria near Israel, have resisted a push by the new Islamist government to be folded into the national military, fearing that acceding would endanger their people. But as the bloodshed mounted this week, local Druse leaders in Ashrafieh Sahnaya went the other way. – New York Times
Syria is set to sign a deal to import electricity from Turkey through a 400-kilovolt transmission line between the two countries “soon”, the Syrian state news agency cited the country’s energy minister as saying on Sunday. – Reuters
Officials of a small Palestinian terrorist group that was close to the ousted Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, said their leader was arrested Saturday by the country’s new Islamist-led authorities. – Agence France-Presse
An IAF transport helicopter delivered an “exceptional” amount of humanitarian aid to members of the Druze community in Syria’s Suwayda District in the southern area of the country in an overnight operation between Friday night and Saturday morning. – Jerusalem Post
Turkey
Ozgur Ozel, Turkey’s main opposition leader, was slapped in the face after attending the funeral of a pro-Kurdish politician in Istanbul on Sunday as political tensions continue to run high. – Bloomberg
During the Israeli strike near the presidential palace in Damascus overnight on Thursday, Turkish fighter jets reportedly conducted reconnaissance flights in the area where Israeli aircraft were operating. – Jerusalem Post
Turkey’s growing dominance in drone production is not merely a technological milestone but a potential strategic concern for Israel, Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, a senior researcher at the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University. – Jerusalem Post
Lebanon
Lebanon has warned Palestinian militant group Hamas not to conduct operations that compromise the country’s security or sovereignty, Beirut’s Supreme Defence Council said on Friday. – Reuters
Hamas has handed over a militant suspected of firing rockets into northern Israel, the Lebanese Army said on Sunday. – Associated Press
Lebanese voted Sunday in the country’s first local elections in almost a decade, months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire ended a war between Israel and Hezbollah. – Associated Press
Egypt
Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone signed a 50-year concession deal with the United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi Ports Group to set up a 20-square km logistics and industrial zone east of Port Said, AD Ports managing director said in a televised address on Sunday. – Reuters
An Egyptian court has sentenced two Israeli citizens to five years in jail for assaulting hotel workers in the Red Sea town of Taba near the border with Israel last year, an Egyptian security source said on Saturday. – Reuters
Egypt is reportedly resisting pressure from the United States to allow the US and Gulf countries a new stronghold in the Red Sea amid escalating threats from the Iran-backed Houthi terror group, Egyptian and American officials told the independent Egyptian newspaper Mada Masr this week. – Jerusalem Post
Yemen
A U.S. airstrike in Yemen on Monday appears to have killed at least three dozen people in a Houthi-run compound that human rights researchers say has been used for years as a detention center and at times for military purposes, according to images of the aftermath reviewed by The Washington Post. – Washington Post
Yemen has appointed Salem Saleh Bin Braikas, who served as finance minister in the previous cabinet, as prime minister, the presidential council said in a statement on Saturday. – Reuters
Yemen’s Houthi rebels said late on Sunday they would impose a “comprehensive” aerial blockade on Israel by repeatedly targeting its airports, in response to Israel expanding its operations in Gaza. – Reuters
“Targeting civilian airports is a blatant act of terrorism,” Summer Ahmed, Foreign Affairs Representative of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) of South Yemen to the United Nations, exclaimed to the Jerusalem Post. – Jerusalem Post
Saudi Arabia
The U.S. State Department approved a possible foreign military sale to Saudi Arabia of AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles and related support for $3.5 billion, the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday. – Reuters
OPEC+ leader Saudi Arabia warned the group’s overproducing members it could amplify a historic shift in policy and deliver further production increases unless they fall in line, delegates said. – Bloomberg
As Saudi Arabia’s Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman addressed his OPEC+ counterparts on a video call to ratify the group’s second huge supply increase in as many months, he invoked a surprising historical precedent: the 1973 oil embargo imposed by major OPEC nations that sent crude prices soaring. – Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump is expected to hold a summit with Gulf leaders during a visit to Saudi Arabia in mid-May, a senior American official and two senior Arab officials told Walla on Saturday. – Jerusalem Post
Gulf States
Kuwait’s oil minister said that the OPEC+ meeting would significantly affect production policy formulation in the coming period, Kuwait’s state news agency reported on Saturday. – Reuters
As a general amnesty law takes effect in Iraq, the country’s prisons are facing a crisis of overcrowding, housing more than double their intended capacity, the country’s justice minister said in an interview. – Associated Press
The United Arab Emirates will introduce artificial intelligence to the public school curriculum this year, as the Gulf country vies to become a regional powerhouse for AI development. – Bloomberg
Middle East & North Africa
The U.N. Mission in Libya said on Friday its advisory committee finished its consultations and finalized a set of options to address contentious issues in Libya’s current electoral framework, adding that the Mission will start talks with Libyan stakeholders based on these options. – Reuters
Two people died after a leakage incident in one of the units in the state run Bahrain Petroleum Co (BAPCO), and the situation was brought under control, Bahrain’s interior ministry said on Friday. – Reuters
A Tunisian court on Friday handed down a 34-year prison sentence against former Prime Minister Ali Larayedh, a senior figure in the opposition Ennahda party, on charges of facilitating the departure of jihadists to Syria over the past decade, his lawyer told Reuters. – Reuters
More than a year of protests over Morocco’s decision to normalize ties with Israel has emboldened activists and widened a gap between the decisions of the government and the sentiments of the governed. The fury has spilled into the country’s strategic ports. – Associated Press
Korean Peninsula
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has inspected an “important” tank factory and touted “great progress in the core technology of Korean-style tanks,” state media KCNA said on Sunday. – Reuters
South Korea’s conservative People Power Party on Saturday picked former labour minister Kim Moon-soo as its candidate for the June 3 presidential election, which was called after the removal of Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed attempt to impose martial law. – Reuters
South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean aims to boost its revenue from overseas military vessels to around 4 trillion won ($2.91 billion) by 2030 and hopes to pick up more repair orders from the U.S. Navy, a senior executive told Reuters. – Reuters
Taehwa Hong writes: The traditional foreign policy triad, North Korea-centrism, deep U.S. reliance, and naive engagement with China, may require rebalancing in light of today’s geopolitical realities. Korea also lacks a coherent national security doctrine linking foreign policy, defense industry, technology, and society. Bureaucratic silos and inertia stifle innovation. A new strategic narrative must rise, rooted in realism, committed to regional leadership, and backed by a clear grand strategy. – National Interest
Taehwa Hong writes: From China’s perspective, it would be a risky, ungrounded gamble to base its decision on Taiwan on what the United States does in Ukraine. South Korea should resist overinterpreting the Europe–Asia link and instead prioritize material allocations and choices. To deter China, the Indo-Pacific must develop real military capacity, not excessively rely on symbolic demonstrations of resolve elsewhere. On a more cynical note, U.S. allies such as South Korea may have limited influence over the direction of Washington’s grand strategy. – National Interest
China
Beijing is considering ways to address the Trump administration’s concerns over China’s role in the fentanyl trade, according to people familiar with the matter, potentially offering an off-ramp from hostilities to allow for trade talks to start. – Wall Street Journal
In most cases, Chinese authorities haven’t given any reason for ending or withholding data. But the missing numbers have come as the world’s second biggest economy has stumbled under the weight of excessive debt, a crumbling real-estate market and other troubles—spurring heavy-handed efforts by authorities to control the narrative. – Wall Street Journal
Eric Schmidt and Selina Xu write: It’s a hard truth to swallow, but Chinese tech has become better despite constraints, as Chinese entrepreneurs have found creative ways to do more with less. So it should be no surprise that the online response in China to American tariffs has been nationalistic and surprisingly optimistic: The public is hunkering down for a battle and think time is on Beijing’s side. We’re no longer in the era when China is far behind us. If China’s capacity to innovate endures, if its A.I. companies continue to embrace openness, and if China stays on track to take over 45 percent of all global manufacturing by 2030, then the next chapter of the A.I. race will be an all-out dogfight on every axis possible. America will need every advantage it has. – New York Times
South Asia
But after the deadly terrorist attack nearly two weeks ago in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Syed Asim Munir, has stepped to the center of sharpening tensions between Pakistan and India. – New York Times
India has begun work to boost reservoir holding capacity at two hydroelectric projects in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, after fresh tension with Pakistan led it to suspend a water-sharing pact. – Reuters
Russia will help the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan fight against the Afghan branch of Islamic State, Moscow’s special representative for the country was quoted as saying on Friday. – Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to his Pakistani counterpart on Sunday and offered Russia’s help in resolving tensions between Pakistan and India over Kashmir, the Foreign Ministry said. – Reuters
India said on Saturday it had banned the import of goods coming from or transiting via Pakistan and barred Pakistani ships as tensions rise between the nuclear-armed neighbours in the wake of a deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region. – Reuters
India has asked the International Monetary Fund to review loans disbursed to Pakistan, an Indian government source told Reuters on Friday, as tensions between the South Asian neighbours escalated following a deadly attack in Kashmir. – Reuters
Iran’s foreign minister was in Pakistan on Monday to try and mediate in the escalation between Islamabad and New Delhi after last month’s deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled section of Kashmir. – Associated Press
Pakistan test fired a ballistic missile Saturday as tensions with India spiked over last month’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region. – Associated Press
India recalled its top representative to the International Monetary Fund, a former adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who publicly criticized the fund’s analysis. Modi’s office terminated KV Subramanian’s appointment as executive director to the board effective April 30, six months before his three-year term would expire, according to people familiar with the situation. – Bloomberg
Mihir Sharma writes: For Spain and Portugal, last week’s nationwide blackout may have felt unprecedented. But in India, we have lived through these already. In July 2012, a grid collapse caused 400 million Indians to lose access to power, many of them for days. Most assume that, as the country grows richer and energy becomes more abundant, such problems won’t recur. But, as Europe has learned, preventing grid collapse is a constant endeavor, not a battle that you only fight once. India’s government has prioritized energy access, vastly expanding availability to households and building more generation capacity. It is now time for it to work on grid stability as well. – Bloomberg
Asia
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was returned to power in an election Saturday, the latest left-leaning leader to achieve a comeback victory as President Trump roils global markets and upends international affairs. – Wall Street Journal
Voters in Singapore handed the party that has been in power for more than six decades another solid majority amid warnings from senior officials about the threat the city-state faces from the shifting global order. – Wall Street Journal
There is a possibility that Malaysia can negotiate a reduction in threatened U.S. tariffs as Washington has agreed to further talks, but the global trade war meant economic growth was likely to be below target this year, the Prime Minister said on Monday. – Reuters
The New Zealand government said on Sunday it had set aside NZ$2 billion ($1.19 billion) in its upcoming budget to replace the Defence Force’s aging maritime helicopters, as global tensions increase. – Reuters
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has congratulated Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese’s election win in a phone call and the two agreed to bolster defence and security cooperation, Starmer’s office said on Sunday. – Reuters
Taiwan’s government said on Saturday that it had concluded its first round of “substantive” tariff talks with the United States, describing the atmosphere as frank and cordial. – Reuters
Vietnam has sent diplomatic notes to China and the Philippines to protest against their activities in contested South China Sea waters, and urging them to respect its territorial claims, it said on Saturday. – Reuters
Editorial: Mr. Albanese will now be able to govern from a new position of political strength, especially as he negotiates with Mr. Trump. The Prime Minister is likely to continue close security ties with the U.S., and he’ll try to maintain smooth relations with China, which is Australia’s largest export market. This is one way in which Mr. Trump’s tariff shock and rhetorical attacks on allies are having far more than economic consequences. They are causing democratic electorates around the world to question America’s reliability, which at least for now helps politicians who sound like nationalists in those countries. – Wall Street Journal
E.J. Dionne Jr writes: Jim Chalmers, Australia’s treasurer and Labor’s lead economic spokesman, highlighted the episode during an election night broadcast while also praising Dutton’s graciousness in conceding defeat. “When did it become weakness to be kind or generous or inclusive or gracious?” Chalmers asked. Trump’s tariffs can’t stop good questions from crossing borders or oceans. Importing that one would not affect our balance of payments, but it could alter the balance of decency in our politics. Voters in Australia and Canada would like us to think about it. – Washington Post
Karishma Vaswani writes: Despite having one of the shortest campaign periods in the world — this one ran for nine days — voters used the time well, engaging in discussions at housing estates, coffee shops and rallies, comparing manifestos, questioning prospective members of parliament, and creating some of the most entertaining political memes that I’ve seen in my time covering Singapore politics. These lively conversations reflect a maturing electorate, as I’ve noted before. Singapore may have voted for stability in the face of Trump’s trade war, but that shouldn’t be taken for granted. – Bloomberg
Europe
Terrorists in Europe are getting younger, and authorities are struggling to find them. In recent months, dozens of adolescents as young as 14 have been arrested across Europe for allegedly plotting attacks against music venues, shopping centers and sites of worship. – Wall Street Journal
Romania’s decision last year to annul a vote won by a nationalist candidate over suspected Russian interference has drawn sharp criticism from the Trump administration. Now, a new anti-establishment candidate is leading in the first round of an election rerun Sunday, posing a challenge to the governing parties in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization member. – Wall Street Journal
Organizers of a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid intended for Gaza said their vessel came under attack from armed drones in international waters off the coast of Malta early Friday, causing serious damage to its hull and endangering the lives of those on board. – Washington Post
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency on Friday designated the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, as an “extremist endeavor,” a move that lowers hurdles for the spy agency in conducting certain kinds of surveillance on the party, the second-largest in Germany’s parliament. – Washington Post
Reform U.K., Britain’s upstart anti-immigration party, celebrated breakthrough wins Friday as votes were tallied in local elections held a day earlier. The early results were a sign that the populist politics roiling much of Europe and the United States are gaining traction in the United Kingdom, posing a challenge to the two-party dominance of the Conservative and Labour parties. – Washington Post
British counterterrorism officers have arrested eight men, including seven Iranian nationals, in connection with two separate investigations, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Sunday. – New York Times
Chinese President Xi Jinping will make an official visit to Russia from May 7-10 to participate in celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Kremlin said on Sunday. – Reuters
The United States should not be “fooled” by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko into offering concessions following the release of a U.S. prisoner freed as a gift to Donald Trump, a senior aide to the exiled opposition leader of Belarus said. – Reuters
NATO chief Mark Rutte has proposed alliance members boost defence spending to 3.5% of GDP and commit a further 1.5% to broader security-related spending to meet Donald Trump’s demand for a 5% target, people familiar with the proposal told Reuters. – Reuters
An investment treaty between Britain and India will contain a provision that allows companies to sue either government if they believe policy changes unfairly harm their investment or profits, two sources familiar with discussions told Reuters. – Reuters
The European Parliament has toughened its rules on lobbying more than two years after a cash-for-influence scandal that triggered one of the largest corruption investigations to hit the EU. – Politico
Martin Ivens writes: As the big two parties lick their wounds after last week’s electoral drubbing, they’ll have to address the populist threat. Parroting Reform’s slogans won’t do; they must find pragmatic solutions to the grievances that fire up the electorate and move faster on these. Their leaders might well find that Blair has started some of the hard thinking for them. – Bloomberg
Africa
Sudanese paramilitary forces targeted an airport, a warehouse and several civilian facilities in the eastern city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, setting off “scattered explosions,” according to a spokesman from Sudan’s military. – New York Times
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Sunday in an X post that the company’s satellite system Starlink is now available in Congo. Democratic Republic of Congo said on Friday that it had become the latest African country to grant a license to Starlink, reversing an earlier ban. – Reuters
At least seven people were killed and 20 injured and the last remaining hospital and pharmacy in the country’s Fangak county were destroyed in bombings, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Saturday. – Reuters
Uganda’s military chief, the son of President Yoweri Museveni, says he is holding an opposition activist in his basement and has threatened violence against him, after the man’s party said he was abducted by armed men last week. – Reuters
Gabon will hold parliamentary elections on Sept. 27, the country’s newly elected president, Brice Oligui Nguema, said Saturday. Local elections are scheduled for Oct. 11 and senatorial elections will be held on Nov. 8 and 29, Nguema said in his inaugural address, marking the return to constitutional order following a 2023 coup. – Bloomberg
Faure Gnassingbé is set to be sworn in as president of Togo’s powerful council of ministers after his ruling party won a landslide in 2024 elections. Gnassingbé, 58, will assume the post on Saturday, state-owned television TVT reported. – Bloomberg
Kurt Davis Jr writes: The stakes are enormous. Africa’s population will double by 2050. Its economies are growing rapidly. Its resources — from rare earth minerals to agricultural land — will be crucial to the future of the global economy. Those who build trust and infrastructure on the continent today will help set the terms of global trade, technology and governance tomorrow. America cannot afford to watch from the sidelines. As it reforms its diplomatic tools, it must combine strategic investment, thoughtful partnerships and continued advocacy for democratic principles. Africa’s future is too important — and too full of opportunity — for the U.S. to ignore. – The Hill
The Americas
Brazilian authorities said they “discreetly and precisely” targeted an online hate crime network that could have carried out an attack with explosives on a Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, a free event that brought, by some estimates, some 2.5 million people to Copacabana Beach. – Washington Post
Brazil’s Social Security Minister Carlos Lupi resigned from his position on Friday, with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva naming his main secretary for the role, according to a statement from the Presidential Palace. – Reuters
Chilean authorities canceled evacuation orders in the far south and Antarctica after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck off the coast of southern Chile Friday morning, prompting evacuations in the region due to tsunami threats. – Reuters
A Peruvian navy vessel collided with an oil platform operated by Perenco on the Amazon River leaving two people dead and one missing Peru’s defense ministry said on Friday. – Reuters
The International Court of Justice said Venezuela must refrain from conducting or preparing to conduct elections in a disputed territory currently under Guyanese control, reaffirming a prior decision, according to a document shared by Guyana President Irfaan Ali on Thursday. – Reuters
North America
President Trump is pressuring Mexico to allow deeper U.S. military involvement in the fight against drug cartels, people familiar with the discussions said, making security a sticking point for neighbors that are also negotiating over trade and immigration. – Wall Street Journal
Four days after winning his first elected office and leading the Liberal Party as it held onto power, Prime Minister Mark Carney laid out a timetable and a broad legislative agenda for his new government. – New York Times
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada said on Friday that he would travel next week to meet with President Trump for a high-stakes encounter between the two leaders of countries whose once-close friendship has collapsed amid a trade war and Mr. Trump’s threats to Canada’s sovereignty. – New York Times
The United States on Friday designated Haiti’s powerful Viv Ansanm gang alliance, whose members have taken control of almost all the capital Port-au-Prince and spread to surrounding areas, a “transnational terrorist group”. – Reuters
United States
Harvard University President Alan Garber fought back against President Trump’s renewed threat to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status, saying in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the move would be “highly illegal” and “destructive to Harvard.” – Wall Street Journal
Elon Musk’s rocket-and-satellite business is poised to re-create the company town. On Saturday, an election is set to decide whether the properties that informally make up Starbase, home to SpaceX’s Starship rocket, should be incorporated into a new municipality. – Wall Street Journal
As Catholic cardinals prepare to choose a successor to Pope Francis, church leaders, politicians and pundits blasted President Donald Trump on Sunday for sharing an AI-generated image of himself on a throne in the cassock and miter of the pontiff. – Washington Post
President Donald Trump’s decision to oust his national security adviser, Michael Waltz, was the product of a slow accumulation of frustration with a former Green Beret officer who was seen as far more eager to use military force than his boss in the Oval Office. – Washington Post
President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he plans to impose a 100% tariff on films produced overseas, extending his restrictive trade policies on US imports to the entertainment sector for the first time. – Bloomberg
Zainab Usman writes: If proponents of global development embrace industrial transformation as their lodestar, they can help lift people out of destitution while avoiding political blowback. If poor countries industrialize, the entire world will benefit. Global development has the best chance of surviving—and delivering results—if it is seen as more than just charity. – Foreign Affairs
Cybersecurity
More than 11 months after a ransomware group published information from a U.K. pathology services company, the affected patients still have not been informed about what data of theirs was exposed in the incident, with material about sexually transmitted infections and cancer cases being included in the leaks. – The Record
Harrods, the luxury department store in London, has become the latest U.K. retailer to announce detecting an attempted cyberattack following similar announcements by Marks & Spencer and the Co-op. – The Record
The U.S. Treasury Department has designated Cambodia-based conglomerate Huione Group as an “institution of primary money laundering concern” and has proposed severing its access to the U.S. financial system. – The Record
A 36-year-old man believed to be residing in Yemen participated in the Black Kingdom ransomware operation over a prolific two-year span, U.S. prosecutors said this week. – The Record
Ireland’s data privacy regulator on Friday announced it is fining TikTok €530 million ($600 million) for violating strict European Union rules governing how personal data can be transferred abroad and for failing to adhere to transparency requirements. – The Record
Defense
When Gen. Ronald Clark took charge of the U.S. Army in the Pacific in November, his boss in the region, Adm. Samuel Paparo, had a stark security assessment for him: The situation had worsened since Clark was last posted in the Indo-Pacific, three years earlier. Six months into the new job, Clark agrees. China’s “aggressive behavior” has made the environment more dangerous, he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. – Wall Street Journal
The Air Force has started ground testing its first Anduril-made semiautonomous drone wingmen known as collaborative combat aircraft, which could be flying within months. – Defense News
The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group concluded drills in the Philippine Sea with a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer on Apr. 28, according to a JMSDF release. – USNI News
Republican lawmakers are calling the White House’s defense budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year an overall cut to the military following Friday’s release of the so-called skinny budget. – USNI News
Brian Darling writes: There is quite a bit of noise that is distracting from the real-world accomplishments of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the first 100 days of the Trump administration. Washington insiders love to talk palace intrigue and about issues that do not matter to most Americans. The bottom line is that this new administration has made America safer, while the Defense Department has fixed many of the problems imposed on the military by the Biden administration. – Washington Examiner