Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israel strikes Beirut suburbs, threatening already shaky ceasefire Son of Hamas Gaza chief injured in Israeli strike, five others killed Iran, U.S. working on talks to end fighting WSJ Editorial: The deal with the Iranian regime Putin’s strongman image is fading as Ukraine brings war home to Russia Two drones from Russia crash in Latvia, damage oil storage facility U.S. and China pursue guardrails to stop AI rivalry from spiraling into crisis India Is increasingly ruled by a single party—Modi’s WSJ’s Sadanand Dhume: India’s ruling party beats the odds WaPo Editorial: Economic reforms could help pull Thailand away from China ‘A total collapse’: Elections may expose Britain’s fraying political system Iran conflict may have motivated Trump dinner shooting suspect, US intelligence report findsIn The News
Israel
Israeli forces launched an airstrike against a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces in Beirut’s southern suburbs Wednesday, killing at least one person, according to local officials, in the first attack near the Lebanese capital since the start of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire last month. – Washington Post
Israel struck and critically wounded the son of the Hamas militant group’s top negotiator on Wednesday in air strikes that also killed at least five people across the Gaza Strip, according to medics and Hamas sources. – Reuters
An Israeli court has extended by another six days the detention of two activists arrested aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla that was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters near Greece. – Reuters
Israel will transfer jet fuel to Germany after Berlin requested assistance in recent days following the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement posted online by Israel’s energy ministry on Wednesday. – Reuters
Israel’s shekel gained 1.1% to reach a 33-year high against the dollar on Wednesday, boosted by investor hopes for a U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal. The shekel, which has appreciated 9% so far in 2026, reached a rate of 2.90 per dollar, its strongest level since October 1993. – Reuters
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he was not surprised by the recent developments in the negotiations between the US and Iran and that there is “full coordination” between the US and Israel. – Jerusalem Post
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avidgor Liberman on Wednesday called for a decisive military outcome on all fronts and vowed that he would not sit in a government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “even if the world turns upside down.” – Jerusalem Post
The third round of Israeli-Lebanon peace talks could be held as soon as next week, Lebanese news network LBCI reported on Wednesday. The talks are reportedly set to take place at the US State Department in Washington, DC, on either Wednesday and Thursday or Thursday and Friday next week. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
Iran and the U.S. are working with mediators to hammer out a 14-point memorandum of understanding that would lay out a framework for a monthlong period of talks to end the war, people familiar with the matter said. The discussion points would be the focus of talks that could resume as early as next week in Islamabad, they said. Iran has expressed openness to discussing its nuclear program, easing its earlier resistance, the people added. – Wall Street Journal
A day after announcing a pause in the military’s new operation to clear a path for commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, halting a mission that had just begun, President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened that if Iran did not agree to his latest peace plan, U.S. bombing would resume “at a much higher level.” – Washington Post
Iran struck a defiant tone on Wednesday as President Trump pressed for a deal to end the war, but also acknowledged that its economy is being squeezed. As Iran reviews the latest U.S. peace proposal, lifting the U.S. military blockade of its ports and relieving pressure on its oil industry is one of the main incentives for Tehran to seek a deal.- New York Times
France on Wednesday deployed its carrier strike group to the Red Sea as part of planning for a potential mission to secure the Strait of Hormuz, urging Washington and Tehran to consider the proposal given the global economic impact of their competing blockades. – Reuters
Iran said it was reviewing the latest American proposals on ending the war, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened the country with a new wave of bombing unless a deal is reached that includes reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz to international shipping. – Associated Press
The Islamic regime tortured and mistreated prisoners ahead of their execution on Saturday, according to letters and recorded phone calls shared with The Jerusalem Post by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
The US military disabled an Iran-flagged tanker that tried to dock at an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman in violation of President Donald Trump’s blockade, the latest flareup around the Strait of Hormuz. – Bloomberg
Editorial: Key details have to be spelled out, even in the initial framework. On Wednesday Iran’s state media criticized the U.S. offer, and a senior U.S. official told us the regime is still likely to resist U.S. red lines. It will be essential for Mr. Trump to hold firm, knowing that Iran has no need for domestic enrichment other than for a bomb, and that he can’t count on a change in regime behavior over time, a mistake Mr. Obama made. He also can’t trust a future President to reimpose strict limits later. Mr. Trump has been unique in his willingness to confront Iran. The task in any deal is to secure full nuclear dismantlement while Mr. Trump is still in office. If Iran won’t do it, the President will have to make good on his threats. – Wall Street Journal
James Stavridis writes: If the Iranians continue to attack merchant shipping and civilian infrastructure, we should reply with calibrated strikes around the strait: on small boat refueling, storage and repair locations; any remaining mine inventories; drone-launching sites; and short-range ballistic missile batteries. We would also need to realize that this would not be a bloodless mission. Sooner or later, some of the merchants and perhaps even a Navy warship would be struck by drones or a mine, with major damage and loss of life. During Earnest Will, several tankers ran into mines, and a frigate, the USS Samuel B. Roberts, nearly sank after hitting one. – Bloomberg
Len Khodorkovsky writes: The Cold War was won, in part, because a static-filled shortwave radio delivered the sound of freedom to those behind the Iron Curtain. Today, the “signal” is digital, but the stakes are identical. Washington and Silicon Valley must act now to scale the tools of circumvention, raise the economic cost of censorship through data-driven diplomacy, and strengthen the “mental immune system” of those under fire. We have the technology to puncture the digital Iron Curtain. Our job is to ensure the crack of light gets through. – Iran International
Edward P. Joseph and Wolfgang Pusztai write: In sum, Europe has much to gain and little to lose with Washington by making a good-faith offer to join the blockade; if Trump rejects it, he will incur more criticism, including from Republicans, for isolating the US, protecting Russia, and letting Iran off the hook. While intense differences between the US and Europe will still burden relations, sharing risks in the Gulf would diminish mistrust. Indeed, quiet administration progress with Denmark and Greenland is proof that Washington can move on from Trump’s bombast. What’s more, having bitten off far more than it can chew in Iran, the Trump administration would finally grasp the value of operating with allies in a complex and dangerous world. – The National Interest
Russia and Ukraine
Ever since coming to power more than a quarter-century ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin built a new state religion around May 9, the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany and the holiest day in the Russian calendar. On Saturday, Putin will for the first time preside over a Victory Day parade held as his war on Ukraine has exceeded the length of the Soviet Union’s war on the Nazis. – Wall Street Journal
As cracks appear in the Russian elite over the war against Ukraine, the deteriorating Russian economy and repressive restrictions, including limits on internet access, Remeslo’s turnabout and continuing open defiance signify a broader divide in the upper reaches of Kremlin power, according to a Russian official, a prominent opposition figure and analysts. The Russian official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. – Washington Post
Two drones entered NATO member Latvia from Russian territory and crashed, the Latvian army said on Thursday morning. The drones were probably launched by Ukraine against targets in Russia, Latvia’s Defence Minister Andris Spruds told national broadcaster LSM. – Reuters
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that it had warned diplomatic missions to evacuate staff promptly from Kyiv in the event of a mass strike by Moscow in response to any attempt by Ukraine to disrupt Russia’s May 9 Victory Day commemorations. – Reuters
Russian drone and missile strikes carried out overnight and later on Tuesday killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 80 others, Ukrainian authorities said, hours before Kyiv was due to enact a ceasefire and three days before Moscow promised its own pause in hostilities. – Associated Press
Russia fired dozens of drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, disregarding a unilateral ceasefire announced by Kyiv that began at midnight. – Associated Press
Hanna Notte writes: But the fact remains that Trump’s world may not be a hospitable milieu for Russia. Trump could come for Cuba, one of Russia’s closest partners in the Western Hemisphere, next, further chipping away at the power of Moscow’s circle of friends. More fundamentally, Trump seems in no mood to accommodate Russia as a great-power equal to the United States—to consult Putin on Iran and other geopolitical dossiers; to rely on the UN, where Moscow is Washington’s peer, as the world’s foremost peacemaking body; and to grant Russia its sphere of influence. Instead, by dismantling the post–Cold War international system, Trump is taking over Russia’s mission. And Moscow will have to contend with something messier, a world with no stable frameworks or reliable rules of the game. – Foreign Affairs
Middle East & North Africa
The United Arab Emirates denied allegations by Sudan that an Emirati drone had been used in an attack on Khartoum airport on Monday launched from Ethiopia, according to a statement by a UAE official late on Tuesday. – Reuters
Mohammed’s life as a gay man in conservative south Lebanon was already rife with challenges. But Israeli strikes on his hometown in March were the final straw, pushing him to flee to a rare shelter in Beirut hosting LGBT people. – Reuters
US President Donald Trump’s decision to pause a US operation to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz came as a result of pressure from Saudi Arabia, according to an NBC News report citing two US officials. – Jerusalem Post
The president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a rare phone call, underscoring their countries’ deepening relations in the wake of the Iran war. – Bloomberg
Yisrael Medad writes: In Israel’s backyard, Christians in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Gaza experience persecution stemming from rising Islamist intolerance, including intimidation, land disputes, and assaults. The Christian population has significantly declined due to this pressure, with many fleeing their homes. Incidents include church attacks and forced conversion pressures. The key aspects of persecution the report identifies are a declining population, vandalization of churches, news of violent mob attacks and destruction of property, social coercion and intimidation of Christian women, property theft, as well as lack of legal redress. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
The robot is the latest effort by the country’s monks to show the modern relevance of Buddhism. Introduced to Korea around the 4th century, the religion has seen a decline in popularity and practice. In January, the Venerable Jinwoo, the president of the Jogye Order, pledged to incorporate artificial intelligence into the tradition at his annual New Year’s address. – New York Times
An South Korean appeals court has reduced the prison sentence of a former prime minister convicted of rebellion for his role in then President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ill-fated imposition of martial law
in December 2024. – Associated Press
Ethnic Koreans living in the Yanbian region of China were targeted by a sophisticated North Korean hacking group with a strain of malware attached to a popular Android mobile game. – The Record
China
Washington and Beijing are weighing the launch of official discussions about artificial intelligence, said people familiar with the matter, as their AI competition threatens to become the arms race of the digital era. The deliberation comes as the White House and the Chinese government are considering putting AI on the agenda for a summit next week in Beijing between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. – Wall Street Journal
As the war in Iran drags on, China has deepened its influence with fuel-starved neighbors, offering to ease shortages while pushing its renewable energy technology. In the days after the United States and Israel attacked Iran and the Strait of Hormuz was closed, China banned oil-product exports, squeezing Asian countries that rely on its refineries for jet fuel, gasoline and diesel. – New York Times
China’s top diplomat met with Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday and called for greater efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz and for an end to the war, after the Trump administration pressed Beijing to help end Tehran’s chokehold over the waterway. – New York Times
China’s top diplomat said Thursday that ties with the U.S. have been in general stable despite “many twists and disruptions,” and called on both countries to find a way to contribute to global peace, a week before President Donald Trump is expected to visit. – Associated Press
China may try some “maneuvering” over the Taiwan issue when U.S. President Donald Trump visits Beijing next week, but the U.S. has reaffirmed its policy on the island has not changed, a top Taiwanese intelligence official said on Thursday. – Reuters
A delegation of United States senators visiting Beijing has called for stability and peaceful cooperation between the world’s two largest economies a week before the countries’ leaders meet. – Reuters
A company in China fired the relative of a Taiwanese minister over backing for Taiwan’s independence, according to Chinese state media. – Bloomberg
South Asia
Voters in the bastions of two powerful regional political parties have ousted their rulers in state elections, providing a boost to Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in what is being seen as an electoral earthquake. Political experts say voters were driven by economic frustrations over a lack of jobs coupled with local complaints against the parties, both key members of an opposition alliance that confronted Modi in national elections two years ago. – Wall Street Journal
Hundreds of people were arrested after post-election violence erupted this week in an eastern Indian state, killing at least three people, including the aide to a senior leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. – Reuters
Pakistan’s military warned Thursday it would respond strongly against any attack as it marked the anniversary of last year’s four-day conflict with neighboring India that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war before a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted the fighting. – Associated Press
Pakistani journalist and YouTuber Muhammad Saad bin Riaz has been sent to jail on judicial remand in Lahore after counterterrorism authorities accused him of promoting al-Qaida and possessing banned material, allegations his family, colleagues, and some analysts strongly dispute. – Jerusalem Post
Sadanand Dhume writes: In a phone interview, Milan Vaishnav, an expert on Indian democracy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says the apparent rush to disenfranchise voters in Bengal was striking: “I do think we have real reason now to suspect that the quality of democracy during elections has declined considerably.” Political scientists will quibble about the degree to which the Election Commission’s actions affected the final results. But the fact that they’re having this debate ought to worry well-wishers of Indian democracy. – Wall Street Journal
Ailia Zehra writes: Opportunities to reframe Pakistan’s role, from a security liability to a diplomatic actor seeking to mediate conflict, have not been fully leveraged in public-facing outreach. The recent Indian Embassy event on the Hill, which featured fresh allegations of Pakistani involvement in terrorism, went largely unchallenged by Pakistani officials—even as Pakistan receives public praise for its efforts to mediate peace between Iran and the United States. Pakistan’s apparent failure to translate its current diplomatic visibility into a sustained effort to reshape its image or build lasting momentum in Washington reinforces a central feature of this relationship: it remains reactive rather than institutionalized, and continues to rest heavily on personal rapport between the two countries’ leaderships. – The National Interest
Asia
Japan’s Self-Defense Forces fired a Type 88 anti‑ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with U.S., Australian, and Philippine forces on Wednesday, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the South China Sea. – Reuters
Southeast Asian leaders plan to issue a contingency plan that upholds international law, sovereignty and freedom of navigation in what could be seen as a veiled rebuke to the United States, Israel and Iran over the Middle East war which has impacted their region, according to a draft declaration seen Thursday by The Associated Press. – Associated Press
An Australian man accused of killing 15 people in a massacre at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach will face 19 more charges related to the attack, officials said Wednesday. – Associated Press
A number of Australian women with alleged ties to Islamic State group militants will be arrested and face criminal investigations if they return from Syria, police said Wednesday. – Associated Press
Singapore will postpone considering an independent panel’s recommendations on the salaries of political office holders until the economic impact of the Iran war becomes clearer. – Bloomberg
Editorial: Thailand sees China as a major trading partner, not a military threat. The country’s total trade with China last year was $133 billion, compared to $74.4 billion with the U.S. Making more of the economy aboveboard would increase Thailand’s appeal to investors as the Trump administration seeks to reduce dependencies on Chinese manufacturing, particularly around electronics and semiconductor assembly. If Anutin can figure out how to get government out of the way, he will have a better chance of achieving his audacious goal for Thailand to attain high-income status by 2037. – Washington Post
Europe
Three people were evacuated Wednesday from the cruise ship facing a hantavirus outbreak in the Atlantic Ocean, as Swiss health authorities confirmed another case in Zurich, in a passenger who had already left the Hondius. The ship, which has been sitting off the coast of Cape Verde but not allowed to dock, is now set to head for Spain’s Canary Islands. – Washington Post
In place of Labour and its traditional opponent, the Conservatives, many voters are embracing other parties in what experts say represents the largest transformation in British politics in a generation. The two biggest beneficiaries are Reform U.K., the right-wing populist party led by Nigel Farage, a supporter of President Trump, and — on the other side of the political spectrum — the leftist, pro-environment Green Party. – New York Times
Seeking to break a deadlock over the Strait of Hormuz, President Emmanuel Macron of France on Wednesday called for the United States and Iran to reopen the contested waterway even before they agree on a truce to end the two-month war. – New York Times
The very next day, during an exercise on Romania’s Black Sea coast, NATO air defense systems failed to thwart target drones in three out of nine tests. Then, hours later, metal fragments from a Russian drone downed over Ukraine crashed into a residential compound in Romania, not far from where Mr. Cerneaga had stood. Nobody was hurt. – New York Times
On Wednesday, four Bosnian environmental agencies filed criminal charges against Dundee Precious Metals, the Canadian mining company that took over the mine in September when it acquired the previous owner, UK-based Adriatic Metals, with the Zenica-Doboj cantonal prosecutors’ office. – Reuters
Hungary has returned cash and gold of Ukraine’s Oschadbank seized by Budapest’s security service in March, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday, as Kyiv welcomed the move toward normalising strained ties under Hungary’s outgoing government. – Reuters
While Russian officials have long been accused of silencing the country’s enemies abroad, three Western intelligence officials from different countries told AP that a campaign of targeted killings has ramped up since President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. – Associated Press
A deal revamping Swiss relations with the European Union requires a constitutional amendment, according to a panel of lawmakers. The decision highlights the controversy of the accord in Switzerland due to local fears of increased immigration from the EU. – Bloomberg
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said the European Union needs to move with more agility to compete with the US and China. – Bloomberg
Claudia Major writes: Nuclear deterrence currently relies primarily on U.S. weapons, and there is no indication that the United States intends to limit its nuclear guarantee. But both France and Britain, which have their own nuclear weapons, are reviewing their policies. Last July, the two countries signed a new nuclear pact to intensify cooperation, and in March President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would expand its arsenal and increase cooperation with neighboring countries, with an eye toward creating a European deterrent. – New York Times
Lionel Laurent writes: The problem is that the window for action is closing fast because of domestic politics. Merz is already having to resist calls for a fresh election — an increasingly common demand across the region. France is gearing up for presidential elections next year, with the far right in pole position, and Italy holds elections then too. Fresh-faced Dutch centrist Rob Jetten is in charge of a fragile minority government. One has to hope, paradoxically, that the urgency of the crisis facing Europe is both acute enough to trigger change but not so harsh that it strengthens the political extremes. If Merz’s year in power is a guide, the odds of success are not great. – Bloomberg
Africa
Some of those passengers flew to Johannesburg and then traveled across the world from there. Their dispersal has touched off a global scramble to track down who went where and to contain an obscure form of hantavirus, a rat-borne infection that rarely spreads between humans. – Wall Street Journal
Uganda’s parliament passed legislation to curb alleged foreign influence after scaling back proposed restrictions on funding from abroad that the central bank governor said risked “economic disaster”. – Reuters
China said on Wednesday Eswatini’s leaders were being “kept and fed” by Taiwan, using unusually strong language to condemn the small southern African kingdom for hosting President Lai Ching-te. – Reuters
Ivory Coast’s government has dissolved the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) following sustained criticism of the body over its handling of elections, government spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi said he’s prepared to seek another five years in office if asked to do so after a referendum, highlighting a growing trend of term-limit evasion in Africa. – Bloomberg
Angola’s Cabinda oil refinery, among the first to be built in Africa in decades, has started shipping fuel, helping the crude producer bolster domestic supply and reduce reliance on imports. – Bloomberg
The Americas
Colombia’s independent fiscal watchdog will suspend monitoring of public finances and stop issuing legally mandated opinions in November after the government reduced its operating budget, the committee’s president warned on Wednesday. – Reuters
Venezuela told judges at the United Nations’ highest court, the World Court, on Wednesday that it rejects its jurisdiction in its century-old dispute with its neighbour Guyana centred around a region that is rich in oil. – Reuters
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo on Tuesday appointed a new attorney general and head of the prosecutor’s office, putting an end to a fierce, years-long struggle between the anti-corruption progressive and former top prosecutor Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by 40 countries for obstructing anti-corruption efforts. – Associated Press
Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña arrived in Taiwan on Thursday on his first visit to the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own territory. – Associated Press
Taking advantage of terrain teeming with pit vipers, boa constrictors and swarms of biting flies, the US military is reviving its jungle training school in Panama after a 25-year hiatus. – Bloomberg
North America
A U.S. indictment announced last week accusing several Mexican politicians, including the governor of Sinaloa, of having drug cartel ties is triggering a rift in the ruling Morena party as factions jostle over how to respond, posing a significant challenge for President Claudia Sheinbaum. – Reuters
Eight journalists disappeared or were murdered in Mexico in 2025, the UK-based journalist advocacy group Article 19 said in a report published on Wednesday, which named Mexico as the country in Latin America with the highest rates of censorship and judicial harassment against the press. – Reuters
Cuba’s top officials blasted a growing litany of U.S. statements and threats of military action against the Caribbean island, calling them dangerous and an international crime alongside an ongoing U.S. oil blockade that has vastly restricted fuel shipments amid a devastating energy crisis. – Reuters
Arturo Mcfields writes: This new bombshell is a snapshot of the politics and modus operandi of today’s Mexican government. High-ranking officials stand accused of making deals with drug cartels to win elections, intimidate or bribe adversaries or just sell the public a false but reassuring image of normality. As Trump himself put it, it constitutes an utterly intolerable alliance with drug trafficking networks. The underlying problem, the whole enchilada, is not Mexico’s sovereignty, the so-called lack of evidence, the extradition process or some legal timeline. The core issue is that handing over these drug traffickers amounts to handing over the Morena Party itself — and, by extension, collapsing the entire ecosystem that sustains the current Mexican government. – The Hill
United States
Federal prosecutors brought an additional charge Tuesday against the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Trump, alleging that he assaulted a Secret Service officer with a shotgun while rushing through a security checkpoint outside a Washington press gala last month. – Wall Street Journal
Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday after President Trump announced that the United States was pausing a days-old U.S. operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz and claimed there had been “great progress” toward a deal with Iran. – New York Times
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran as a potential motive for the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration at a White House reporters’ gala last month, according to an intelligence report sent to state and local law enforcement nationwide and other federal agencies. – Reuters
President Donald Trump has signed a new national counterterrorism strategy that focuses in part on the “neutralization” of hemispheric threats and incapacitating cartel operations, top White House adviser Sebastian Gorka said on Wednesday. – Reuters
A U.S. judge on Wednesday ruled that the Justice Department can keep 2020 election ballots seized during an FBI search in January, a win for President Donald Trump’s administration as it pursues the president’s false claims of widespread voter fraud. – Reuters
The U.S. Air Force is targeting a Fourth of July delivery for a Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar that would join the Air Force One fleet in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary, a U.S. official and a person familiar with the program said. – Reuters
President Donald Trump has signed off on a new U.S. counterterrorism strategy that sets eliminating drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere as the administration’s highest priority, the White House announced Wednesday. – Associated Press
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will spend three days in Japan starting Monday and is expected to meet senior officials including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi before traveling to China, according to local media reports. – Bloomberg
Editorial: The buffer-zone law passed 44-5, with one abstention. But New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani dragged his feet on implementing it, and at least as we write this hadn’t denounced the protest that included a charge against the police barricades. A spokesman said the mayor is “deeply opposed” to the Israel expo, and failing to speak out against those intimidating a Jewish congregation gives tacit approval. Democrats and Republicans need to police the rising antisemitism in their ranks. This means denouncing Nick Fuentes and Hasan Piker. But it also means confronting, as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has, the podcasters who play footsie with them. This is a character test for all 2028 presidential aspirants. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: It’s absurd for taxpayers to pay public servants more for not working than when they were on the payroll. Just comparing pension benefits to salaries actually understates how much more money the retirees are taking home because, in New York, public pension benefits are not subject to state or local income tax. The reforms that apply to employees hired in 2010 or later don’t even fully eliminate pension spiking. But government unions want to remove the limits and allow workers to spike to their hearts’ content. New York’s state constitution prohibits reductions in pension benefits once enacted. This rule is so ironclad that even state legislators convicted of crimes have continued to receive their full pensions in prison.- Washington Post
Editorial: Jewish people are, sadly, all too familiar with intimidation. Therefore, attempts to terrorize Jewish communities rarely produce fear alone. More often, they strengthen Jewish solidarity and could even deepen the connection Diaspora Jews feel toward Israel. New York, home to one of the world’s largest Jewish populations, should understand that better than most. Its mayor, Mamdani, has an obligation to recognize when protest crosses into intimidation. In a city where synagogues become battlegrounds, and Jewish homes become canvases for neo-Nazi vandalism, the debate over Israel is secondary to the threat posed to Jewish life. – Jerusalem Post
John Authers writes: It’s hard for Labour to appease the electorate without enraging the even more terrifying bond market. Meanwhile, the issue of Europe is back, with those who opposed leaving the European Union increasingly emboldened to argue for a return as the Brexit referendum’s 10th anniversary next month approaches. Starmer is the UK’s sixth prime minister since then and none has yet delivered any positive results from the decision to leave. – Bloomberg
Cybersecurity
European Union proposals to tighten cybersecurity by phasing out equipment from Chinese suppliers risk costing the bloc over $400 billion in the next five years, with Germany facing nearly half of the burden, China’s Chamber of Commerce to the EU (CCCEU) said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Hackers are exploiting a new vulnerability in software from Palo Alto Networks, the company said in an advisory on Wednesday. The bug is tracked as CVE-2026-0300 and carries a severity score of 9.3 out of 10, indicating a critical issue. A patch has not been published yet and Palo Alto Networks said it will be included in releases over the next two weeks. – The Record
The federal cyber defense agency unveiled a new initiative this week aimed at preparing critical infrastructure organizations for technology and telecommunications outages caused by cyberattacks. – The Record
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said the US government would refrain from choosing winners and losers in artificial intelligence, the latest signal from a top aide to President Donald Trump as his administration prepares new AI policy directives. – Bloomberg
Parmy Olson writes: About 20% come from AI research and safety organizations, according to an analysis of AISI’s hiring profile by market intelligence firm Glass.ai. Roughly a dozen took significant pay cuts to join from AI labs such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind. Joining AISI does gild its technical staff with a mark of credibility, and a similar number of staff have decamped back to AI labs. Some of AISI’s engineers also share a prevailing belief that safer AI needs government involvement, one of the agency’s managers told me, an issue that for some at least is worth the pay cut. – Bloomberg
Taylar Rajic and Matt Pearl writes: The future of AI advancement in the United States will require infrastructure buildout to support growing data demands and uses like autonomous systems. Without sufficient spectrum, powerful AI systems and the 6G wireless technologies utilizing them cannot be deployed in the real world at the necessary speed and scale. Fragmented or even delayed U.S. spectrum policy reforms could thus constrain domestic AI deployment, leading to competitors like China gaining the advantage in distributed AI systems and applications. With 5G deployment and Huawei’s global position as a cautionary warning, the United States should waste no time in equipping U.S. firms with the essential spectrum necessary to dominate the AI and 6G technology race. – Center for Strategic & International Studies
Defense
Outgoing Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani has given a candid final press conference in which he warned his successor not to tinker with his strategies and said the three-year mandate handed him by the Italian government had not been long enough. – Defense News
President Donald Trump nominated Rear Adm. Joe Cahill to serve as the next commander of Naval Surface Force, the Pentagon announced Tuesday. – Defense News
A coalition of House Democrats introduced legislation on Tuesday that would prohibit additional federal funding for military action against Iran unless Congress formally authorizes the conflict through an authorization for the use of military force, or a declaration of war. – Military.com
The Air Force’s program to replace the B-52H Stratofortress’s 1960s-era engines cleared its critical design review, the service announced May 4, setting the stage for Boeing to begin modifying the first two aircraft into the B-52J configuration later this year. – Defense News
On April 24, 2026, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle signed a formal memorandum directing that only Surface Warfare Officers (SWOs) will be eligible to command U.S. Navy amphibious warships. This was not an informal policy shift or gradual evolution in assignment practices; it was a written order that categorically removed naval aviators from eligibility for those commands going forward. – Military.com