Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
After Beirut strike, Netanyahu says 'no immunity' for militants JPost Editorial: Israel's self-defense cannot be infringed upon, even if US, Iran reach a deal Trump says ceasefire is intact after U.S. and Iran exchange fire U.S. intelligence says Iran can outlast Trump’s Hormuz blockade for months WaPo’s Marc A. Thiessen: Trump risks snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in Iran ISIS’s David Albright, Sarah Burkhard, Spencer Faragasso, and the Good ISIS Team: Comprehensive analysis of nuclear facilities targeted during the second phase of the Iran war WSJ’s Jillian Kay Melchior: Ukraine strikes deep inside Russia Hamas operatives are being trained in Turkey to launch attacks against Israel - KAN Gulf states lift restrictions that blocked ‘project freedom’ in Strait of Hormuz U.S. sanctions Iraqi official over allegedly aiding Iranian oil sales North Korea’s new constitution gives Kim formal power over nukes WSJ Editorial: Al Qaeda is on the march in AfricaIn The News
Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday there was no “immunity” for Israel’s enemies, a day after the Israeli military targeted a Hezbollah commander in its first strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs since a ceasefire declared last month. – Reuters
An Israeli airstrike has killed the son of Hamas’ chief negotiator in U.S.-mediated talks over Gaza’s future, a senior Hamas official said on Thursday, as leaders of the militant group held talks in Cairo aimed at safeguarding their truce with Israel. – Reuters
An Israeli man suspected of shoving a French Catholic nun to the ground and kicking her in Jerusalem has been charged with assault motivated by religious hostility, Israel’s state attorney’s office said on Thursday. – Reuters
When the Lebanese militia Hezbollah entered the US-Israeli war against Iran by firing rockets and drones into Israel the day after the conflict began on Feb. 28, officials there saw in the crisis sweeping the region a chance to finally drive the militia, already weakened by a series of setbacks, away from Israel’s northern border. They’ve been loath to give it up. – Bloomberg
The West has helped Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas keep the Palestinian people “hostage,” Fatah political leader and president of the Jerusalem Development Fund Samer Sinijlawi told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
The European Union is moving closer to imposing new sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the EU Ambassador to Israel, Michael Mann, confirmed on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
We learned the hard way on October 7 that we cannot let the other side arm itself quietly. The terms “containment” and “deterrence” against terrorist organizations have collapsed. The new concept is “no more containment” – no more passive defense and containment. – Jerusalem Post
A diplomatic row has escalated between China and Israel after an Israeli parliamentary delegation visited Taiwan on Tuesday, reflecting deepening ties between Jerusalem and Taipei at a time of mounting geopolitical tensions across the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East. – Algemeiner
Editorial: Balout was also working to rebuild Radwan’s capabilities, including Hezbollah’s long-planned “Conquer the Galilee” invasion plan, the IDF said, adding that it would continue acting against threats to Israeli civilians and troops. That’s the crux of the matter. An agreement between the US and Iran could theoretically weaken Tehran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. But it’s far from a foregone conclusion. That’s why, along with the impression that the Lebanese government appears unwilling or unable to do anything about Hezbollah, Israel must maintain the freedom to act to safeguard the North – even if it results in a diplomatic conflict with Trump and the US. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
The Alliance Fairfax, a towering black and white car-carrier ship that had been stranded in the Persian Gulf for over two months, was finally making a break for it. – Wall Street Journal
U.S. forces on Thursday launched a new round of military strikes on Iran in response to attacks on American warships, officials said, casting fresh doubt on efforts by Washington and Tehran to reach a negotiated settlement that would end hostilities. – Washington Post
A confidential CIA analysis delivered to administration policymakers this week concludes that Iran can survive the U.S. naval blockade for at least three to four months before facing more severe economic hardship, four people familiar with the document said, a finding that appears to raise new questions about President Donald Trump’s optimism on ending the war. – Washington Post
A series of well-timed market bets on falling oil prices totalling as much as $7 billion during March and April spread across multiple exchanges and types of fuel and derivatives just before major Iranian policy announcements by U.S. President Donald Trump, according to traders, market experts and Reuters analysis of exchange data. – Reuters
The U.S. on Thursday urged countries to support its United Nations resolution demanding Iran halt attacks and mining of the Strait of Hormuz, but diplomats said China and Russia are likely to veto it. – Reuters
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he met with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in a rare public account of interactions with the country’s head of state who’s been in hiding since the start of the war with the US and Israel. – Bloomberg
Now a confidential document obtained by The Economist from a trusted source suggests that Russia has offered to provide Iran with unjammable drones and training on how to use them against American troops in the Gulf and perhaps elsewhere. – The Economist
Marc A. Thiessen writes: Americans want to win. The only thing they like less than war and high gas prices is enduring them for nothing. But to deliver that victory, President Trump needs to show the Iranian regime that it doesn’t have the leverage it thinks it does. And he can’t negotiate a deal that lets the regime off the mat. If he does, he will squander the opportunity to secure one of the greatest national security achievements of any modern president. – Washington Post
Marc Champion writes: Israel’s priorities were to fully destroy Iran’s missile program and entirely cripple its ability to support and mobilize its network of proxies against Israel. These have not been achieved and arguably can’t be without regime change or the collapse of the Iranian state. There is no deal to which the Islamic Republic would agree that Israel could endorse. And while the escape from this war that the reported MOU represents is right for the US, it can not make strategic sense of the decision to wage it. – Bloomberg
Ron Ben-Yishai writes: That happened even though all Trump currently has in hand is an American proposal that moderates in Tehran view as a suitable basis for talks. Still, Trump has already achieved one objective by spreading optimism. He is now waiting, along with everyone else, to see the official answer from Tehran’s divided leadership. It remains to be seen whether this tactic — a mix of presidential statements, contradictory messaging and confusing moves — will throw Iran’s divided negotiating leadership off balance. In any case, Trump’s maneuver has given him broader legitimacy, even in the face of opposition on Capitol Hill, to resume bombing Iran if the proposal is rejected. – Ynet
David Albright, Sarah Burkhard, Spencer Faragasso, and the Good ISIS Team write: Iran decommissioned the enrichment equipment but continued to develop lasers at the site. From 2003 to 2006, the IAEA had sufficient access to the site to verify that Iran did not reconstitute enrichment activities at this site. The site received new attention in 2010, following a statement by then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: “Today, we are capable of enriching uranium with lasers. It is now possible to do this using the same devices which are on display here in this exhibition,” He continued, “using the laser technology for enriching uranium would lead to carrying out the enrichment process with a higher quality, accuracy and speed.” The IAEA visited the site again in February 2014 and did not report seeing any uranium enrichment activities. No uranium enrichment project emerged, as far as can be discerned from open sources. The recent bombing campaign struck the original building involved in uranium enrichment and others built later. – Institute for Science and International Security
Russia and Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine are trading threats and attacks ahead of Moscow’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations, seeding further anxiety about potential weekend violence in both capitals. – New York Times
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia’s proclamation of a limited ceasefire for its World War Two commemorations exposed the “strange and inappropriate” logic of its leaders. – Reuters
Ukraine’s purchase of Saab-made Gripen fighter jets could be signed within months, the country’s defence minister said on Thursday as he visited his Swedish counterpart in Stockholm. – Reuters
Ukraine’s top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, has arrived in Miami for a series of meetings with U.S. representatives as peace talks on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine have stalled in recent months. – Reuters
Russia said on Thursday that air defences had destroyed 32 drones heading towards Moscow since the start of the day, as the country prepares for Russia’s May 9 Victory Day commemorations. – Reuters
Russian air defenses shot down 347 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday, in what appeared to be a major attack after Moscow spurned Kyiv’s ceasefire earlier in the week and tension mounted over safety at Russia’s upcoming Victory Day celebrations. – Associated Press
For years, many Russians cheered on Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in a wave of nationalist fervor. Others kept silent, fearful of the state cracking down against even mild criticism of the social and economic fallout. – Bloomberg
Jillian Kay Melchior writes: Russia’s size is becoming a vulnerability. “The Russians are realizing that they simply don’t have enough air defenses to cover an area that huge,” says Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute. “They cannot be sure they can defend against Ukraine drone attacks on Victory Day”—a realization that “shocks the complacency of an elite that has been treating the war as an expeditionary operation that was not affecting the homeland.” Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign has Mr. Putin asking for a cease-fire, if only for a weekend opportune for the Kremlin. Inflicting more pain on Russia seems the most credible path to peace. – Wall Street Journal
Emzari Gelashvili writes: At the same time, quietly develop credible off-ramps and channels to the real centers of power inside Russia—oligarchs, siloviki, and regional elites—who may one day conclude that the current path is unsustainable. A wounded bear is dangerous. A wounded bear that believes it has no exit is far more dangerous. The West must stop fearing the Russia that no longer exists—and start preparing for the risks posed by the one that does. – Newsweek
Joseph Epstein writes: Lawmakers who accept ANCA’s endorsement should be asked whether they endorse the group’s characterization of TRIPP as a “neo-colonial consortium.” Putin’s offensive is not just against Armenia; it is against an American diplomatic intervention that helped bring peace to the South Caucasus. The Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal was an early signature win of this administration. Whether it survives June 7 will be decided in the next six weeks—and in part by what Washington does, or fails to do, between now and then. – Newsweek
Turkey
Swedish car safety gear maker Autoliv, will gradually discontinue its manufacturing operations in Turkey, affecting around 2,200 employees, the company said on Friday, citing structural shifts in the global automotive industry. – Reuters
Hamas terrorists have been conducting training in areas of Turkey, Israel’s public broadcaster KAN News reported on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
Continuing to expand its local defense industry, Turkey unveiled its first domestically developed intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of up to 6,000 km., putting most of Europe, Africa, and much of Asia in its crosshairs. – Jerusalem Post
Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday that it was canceling several civilian events in northern Israel after assessing that there was a chance Hezbollah could fire rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of the terror group’s Radwan Force commander in Beirut the previous day. – Times of Israel
Lt. Col. (res.) Idan Sharon-Kettler stands at the northern collection site for seized weapons, looking over piles of metal that arrived only hours earlier from southern Lebanon. – Ynet
The war in Lebanon appears to be pushing anxious residents toward sedatives and sleeping pills, according to pharmacists and local reports, though no official data has been released. – Ynet
Ariela Ringel Hoffman writes: No longer ambushes, no longer roadside bombs, no longer anti-tank fire — or not only those. Now there are drones, too. Small, cheap, sometimes improvised, sometimes more sophisticated, forcing them to raise their heads to the sky again and again. Those who believe will look there for the source of their help. Those who do not will scan for those aircraft. A stubborn reality, an endless loop that repeats itself. Generation after generation. Each generation and its Lebanon. Not a war that ends, but a condition that refuses to end. Not an enemy that disappears, but an enemy that changes. Not a border line or separation, but a hostile space. Not a swift victory, but prolonged attrition. – Ynet
Gulf States
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have lifted restrictions on the U.S. military’s use of their bases and airspace imposed after the start of the American operation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. and Saudi officials, removing a hurdle that had tripped up President Trump’s effort to move ships through the vital waterway. – Wall Street Journal
With their location trackers shut off to avoid Iranian attacks, the United Arab Emirates and buyers have recently sailed several tankers loaded with crude through the Strait of Hormuz in a bid to move oil bottled up in the Gulf by the Middle East conflict, according to industry sources and shipping data. – Reuters
Middle Eastern airlines cut flight volumes to their lowest level in more than a week after Iranian drone attacks forced diversions across the Gulf, jolting a fragile recovery from the air travel crisis triggered by the Iran war in late February. – Reuters
The Iran war’s shaky ceasefire was further strained on Friday as the United Arab Emirates responded to a missile and drone attack hours after the U.S. said it thwarted attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliated against Iranian military facilities. – Associated Press
The United Arab Emirates transferred $100 million to the Board of Peace in recent days to fund a contract for the training of a new Palestinian police force for Gaza, a US official and a Middle Eastern diplomat told The Times of Israel this week. – Times of Israel
Middle East & North Africa
The Treasury Department sanctioned Iraq’s deputy oil minister on Thursday, alleging that he was involved in a scheme to help Iran sell its oil in violation of an international embargo by blending it with Iraqi crude. – Wall Street Journal
A Tunisian court sentenced the prominent reporter Zied Heni to one year in prison on Thursday, after he criticized a judicial ruling, his lawyer told Reuters, the latest move that critics say aims to silence critical voices. – Reuters
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Libyan counterpart Abdulhamid Dbeibah discussed on Thursday strengthening energy cooperation at a time when Italy is looking to diversify energy supplies due to the turmoil in the Gulf. – Reuters
Korean Peninsula
South Korea’s martial law scandal is set to loom large over local elections in June that will test whether opposition conservatives can rein in the power of the ruling party of President Lee Jae Myung. – Reuters
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the production of new artillery with a range exceeding 60 km (37 miles) that would be deployed at the South Korean border and bolster its ability to hit Seoul and other targets, KCNA state news agency said on Friday. – Reuters
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten agreed in their first phone call to expand cooperation in semiconductors, AI, quantum technology, batteries and offshore wind, Seoul’s presidential Blue House said. – Reuters
A Malta-flagged tanker carrying 1 million barrels of crude oil arrived off South Korea’s west coast Friday after passing through the Strait of Hormuz in mid-April, a South Korean refinery said. – Associated Press
North Korea has amended its constitution to formally give leader Kim Jong Un sole authority over the country’s nuclear arsenal, according to South Korean lawmakers briefed by Seoul’s spy agency. – Bloomberg
China
A Chinese military court issued suspended death sentences to two former defense ministers for corruption, punctuating a broad purge of China’s armed forces that has ousted most of the high command. – Wall Street Journal
U.S. beef producers are hoping for a trade deal during the upcoming leaders’ summit that could renew licenses to export to China, where they have been largely locked out since Beijing allowed registrations to expire last year. – Reuters
Emblazoned on a box of Chinese fireworks is a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump raising his fist in defiance after a failed assassination bid in 2024, juxtaposed with the U.S. flag and the slogan “Fight for America”. – Reuters
The White House has invited a scaled-back CEO delegation to accompany President Donald Trump to Beijing next week, five sources briefed on preparations said, reflecting divisions in the administration on economic policy toward China and limited expectations for the summit. – Reuters
A cross-party delegation of British lawmakers will visit China this month for the first time since 2019, two sources familiar with the preparations said, in a sign of warming ties since a visit in January by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. – Reuters
A Chinese-owned oil products tanker was attacked near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, Chinese media outlet Caixin reported, as President Donald Trump launched a U.S. plan that day to help stranded vessels but suspended it a day later. – Reuters
Editorial: Other critics-in-exile face the same bounties and threats from Hong Kong authorities, including the U.S.-based Anna Kwok, Frances Hui, Joey Siu and Dennis Kwok. A trial began this week in a federal court in Brooklyn of a man accused of establishing a Chinese police station in New York City to harass and surveil exiled dissidents. Defendant Lu Jianwang has pleaded not guilty. Despite Beijing’s transnational repression, Britain this year approved a new Chinese mega-embassy in London that the Communist Party can use for malign purposes. The U.S. Congress can do better by moving forward with a bipartisan bill giving the Secretary of State authority to shut down HKETO offices in New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. – Wall Street Journal
Amanda Hsiao and Bonnie S. Glaser write: Chinese leaders continue to weigh the benefits and costs of different pathways to resolving Taiwan’s status. Political developments in 2028 could test the assumptions underpinning Beijing’s current strategy of patience, prompting a recalibration and, potentially, a faster turn toward more coercive options. Yet escalation carries substantial strategic, reputational, and economic costs. A blockade, invasion, or quarantine is not foreordained under present conditions. Given how it sees the trends unfolding and believing itself ascendant, Beijing is in no rush to try to take Taiwan by force. – Foreign Affairs
Deng Yuwen writes: In fact, the essence of Xi’s system is not that Cai has replaced Li as the new No. 2, but that Xi has deliberately eliminated any complete second-in-command in the real sense. Everyone is assigned a piece of power, but no one is allowed to form a center of power of their own, even one beneath Xi. Cai is only the piece closest to Xi, the most important close-range operator in Xi’s personal power machine. Cai’s prominence gives outsiders the impression that Xi is relying more and more on him. But this is not because he has become a second power center. It is because in a system without a true second-in-command, the person closest to the leader is the easiest to mistake for one. – Foreign Policy
South Asia
India’s annual consumer inflation likely moved closer to the central bank’s 4% medium-term target in April as higher fuel costs following the U.S.-Iran war began feeding into prices, a Reuters poll of economists showed. – Reuters
India is planning to raise spending on its key scheme designed to refund local taxes paid on export goods and extend the programme’s tenure by five years, two government officials said, as the Middle East war clouds the county’s trade outlook. – Reuters
In the year since India and Pakistan came close to all-out war, officials in New Delhi have become increasingly worried about Islamabad’s cozy relations with US President Donald Trump. – Bloomberg
Bill Drexel writes: The BJP is consolidating power just as India takes its place among the world’s great powers: largest by population, second-largest by military personnel, on the way to becoming third-largest by economy, and the only nation with the potential to counterbalance China in Asia. Monday’s victory in West Bengal shows that the BJP’s rise has not yet reached its ceiling. The BJP’s opponents may keep waiting for the reckoning they’ve long predicted. It may yet arrive. But anyone watching the evidence should instead prepare for the India of the coming decades — and the balance of power in Asia — to be built in no small part by the Hindu right. – Washington Post
Asia
Australian police said on Friday they had charged two women linked to the Islamic State extremist group with slavery offences after they returned overnight from Syria, where they had been detained in a refugee camp for more than seven years. – Reuters
Leaders of Southeast Asian countries holding a summit on Friday are expected to thrash out a coordinated response to the impacts of the Middle East crisis, as they aim to ease pressure from an energy shock that has rattled their oil import-reliant economies. – Reuters
Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party plans to revamp its propaganda efforts by drafting in social media influencers and artificial intelligence experts while adopting new formats such as podcasts and targeted content, internal documents seen by Reuters show. – Reuters
Singapore has isolated and is testing two residents who were onboard a cruise ship linked to a deadly outbreak of hantavirus, the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Thursday. – Reuters
Southeast Asian foreign ministers have agreed to a virtual meeting with their Myanmar counterpart, ASEAN’s secretary-general said on Thursday, as the country seeks to re-engage with the regional bloc after five years on the sidelines. – Reuters
The leaders of Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Thursday to pursue trust-building measures to advance a fragile ceasefire and establish peace, after rare talks over last year’s deadly fighting between the two neighbours. – Reuters
Asian stocks retreated and oil prices rose on Friday as the fragile ceasefire with Iran was strained by missile and drone attacks that prompted U.S. retaliatory strikes on Iranian military facilities. – Associated Press
Victor Cha and Kristi Govella write: Closer consultation between Tokyo and Seoul on security issues, including a bilateral security declaration to supplement the August 2023 Camp David security declaration between Japan, South Korea, and the United States, would formally recognize the common threat they face and would increase transparency between these two historically distrustful common allies of Washington. These steps would build on the efforts that Japan and South Korea have made in recent years to significantly strengthen their relations with each other, as well as with the United States. For now, Washington can rest assured that nuclear dominoes are not about to fall. But it should not completely cast the issue aside and neglect its security commitments in pursuit of other endeavors in the Western Hemisphere, the Middle East, and Ukraine. The cost of doing so could be a nuclear Asia. – Foreign Affairs
Europe
A U.K. immigration official and Hong Kong trade official have been found guilty of helping the Chinese state spy on dissidents in Britain, the first convictions related to Chinese espionage in British history. – Wall Street Journal
Rheinmetall said it aims to start production of cruise missiles with Dutch defense technology company Destinus as early as this year in a move that would boost Europe’s sovereignty in missile manufacturing. – Wall Street Journal
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is visiting the Eternal City as President Trump’s Mr. Fix It, on a mission to mend fences with the Catholic Church and the Italian government. – Wall Street Journal
The neighborhood around Harris Hussein’s barbershop in this once thriving industrial city is marked by potholes and strewn with piles of uncollected trash. But what really gets him worked up as he discusses this week’s city council elections is an issue thousands of miles away: Gaza. – Wall Street Journal
Italy’s UniCredit UCG 0.65%increase; green up pointing triangle said it reached a preliminary deal to sell part of its Russian unit to a private investor in the United Arab Emirates for an undisclosed sum, in its biggest step yet to exit the country. – Wall Street Journal
German manufacturing orders rose sharply in March, a sign that businesses might have been building stocks in response to fears of disruptions to supplies and higher prices after the outbreak of the war in Iran. – Wall Street Journal
Mr. Magyar has now promised to “review,” but not halt the battery plant, as he tries to balance the demands of his voters for greater scrutiny of potential environmental hazards with his promises to revive Hungary’s sluggish economy. – New York Times
Germany’s national leaders and its state intelligence agencies have privately clashed since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran over how bluntly to warn the public about the rising risk of Iran-sponsored attacks on German soil. – New York Times
Dozens of activists from the anti-Kremlin art collective Pussy Riot held a demonstration in Venice on Thursday, waving Ukrainian flags and chanting slogans against President Vladimir Putin to oppose Moscow’s presence at the Venice Biennale. – Reuters
Pro-Russian eurosceptic Rumen Radev promised on Thursday to bring down prices and restore stability in Bulgaria as he named a new cabinet after the president gave him the mandate to form a government after mass protests toppled the last one. – Reuters
British counter-terrorism police have arrested a 19-year-old man in connection with an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in north London last month, marking the third arrest in the investigation, the force said on Thursday. – Reuters
Bosnia will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on October 4, the election commission said on Thursday. About 3.3 million registered voters will choose the Serb, Croat and Bosniak members of the tripartite presidency and deputies in the national parliament. – Reuters
European Union prosecutors are investigating possible misappropriation of EU funds relating to media training for French far-right National Rally leader Jordan Bardella and other party members, Agence France-Presse reports, citing a person close to the case. – Bloomberg
Spain summoned Israel’s top envoy in Madrid to protest the “unacceptable and intolerable” detention of a Spanish activist from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, the foreign minister said Thursday. – Agence France-Presse
France’s far-right leaders have met the ambassadors of Germany and Israel in recent months as their party, once deemed antisemitic, seeks to court foreign envoys in the run-up to next year’s presidential elections. – Agence France-Presse
Tinatin Khidasheli writes: The saga shows that pressure can halt undesirable outcomes, but it cannot produce anything positive. Georgia’s future, and the broader stability of the Black Sea corridor, cannot be built on hesitation. The next phase requires more than preventing Chinese entry, it needs the offer of a credible alternative. Financing that aligns with strategic priorities, coordination between political and economic tools, and a sustained commitment to infrastructure that anchors Georgia firmly in the Euro-Atlantic system. Anaklia is not just a port, it is a mirror. It reflects the limits of strategic ambiguity in Tbilisi, the enduring leverage of Washington, and the unresolved question at the heart of today’s geopolitical competition: who will build the future? – Center for European Policy Analysis
Yair Rosenberg writes: On its own, this incident would be disturbing. But the Golders Green onslaught was just the latest in a series of escalating anti-Semitic attacks across Britain, and the third one in five weeks in the same Jewish community. This past month, multiple synagogues in Golders Green were targeted by arsonists, as was another Jewish institution. The month prior, four ambulances owned by Hatzola, the local Jewish-run charity-ambulance service, were set on fire and destroyed. Last week, Hatzola medics used their remaining resources to treat the victims of the Golders Green stabbing attack. And yet, despite pious protestations from politicians, the country appears to have no idea how to prevent any of this from happening. – The Atlantic
Africa
The Oceanwide Expeditions cruise is now enmeshed in a deadly hantavirus outbreak. Three people have died and at least five more have been infected. Health authorities and airlines are racing to control further spread of the virus. – Wall Street Journal
An explosive public feud has broken out this week between the United States and Zambia. The two nations were negotiating a deal to provide billions of dollars in U.S. health funding, but the outgoing U.S. ambassador publicly accused the Zambian government last week of graft and negotiating in bad faith — comments that the Trump administration is now distancing itself from. – New York Times
Now the administration is considering substantially expanding access for the white South Africans by declaring that an “unforeseen emergency” in that country warrants more than doubling the number who could enter as refugees, according to multiple people familiar with the matter and documents obtained by The New York Times. – New York Times
African countries including Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho and Zimbabwe have warned migrants in South Africa to be cautious and remain indoors due to attacks targeting foreigners, and Ghana has lobbied the African Union regional bloc for action. – Reuters
Al Qaeda-linked insurgents attacked two villages in central Mali on Wednesday night, killing around 50 people, including members of pro-government self-defence forces and civilians, three sources told Reuters on Thursday. – Reuters
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi said he was open to standing for a third term, angering opposition politicians who accused him of planning to break through mandate limits in the constitution and cling to power. – Reuters
Sudan’s army is deploying more troops and anti-aircraft equipment near the Ethiopian border as it accuses Addis Ababa of backing its rebel opponents in a three-year civil war. – Bloomberg
Kenya’s political word of the moment is “goonism,” frequently uttered by national leaders to convey annoyance at the gangs that intimidate those whose political activities they oppose. – Associated Press
Editorial: Islamic State has a presence in Mali and will seek to exploit a power vacuum. Instability there could spill into neighboring states in western Africa. Another worry is a refugee wave into Europe. The Trump Administration has recently sought to resume some counterterror cooperation with Mali and neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, a welcome development. There’s also an opportunity for deeper security partnerships with other nearby countries, including Mauritania, Ghana, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. Damage control may be the best the U.S. can do, but don’t be surprised if the chaos in Mali doesn’t stay in Mali. – Wall Street Journal
The Americas
In a rare private meeting, President Trump and his leftist Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, met at the White House on Thursday as the two leaders sought to repair frayed relations between the most populous countries in the Americas after a year of acrimony. – Wall Street Journal
The United States on Thursday imposed financial sanctions on a sprawling business conglomerate run by Cuba’s military and a Cuban-Canadian mining joint venture, as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on the island’s communist leaders by targeting sources of foreign investment. – Reuters
Paraguay “deeply values” its relations with Taiwan and will continue to offer support, President Santiago Pena said on Friday as he was formally welcomed in Taipei by President Lai Ching-te. – Reuters
The U.S. Department of State has started a review of the more than 50 Mexican consulates operating in the United States, a State Department official said on Thursday. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order in January to impose a fuel blockade on Cuba amounts to “energy starvation” with grave consequences for the Caribbean island nation’s development and human rights, U.N. experts said on Thursday. – Reuters
Chilean President José Antonio Kast’s flagship economic bill cleared its first congressional hurdle on Thursday, but the vote gives the new administration little respite as it works to muster legislative support. – Bloomberg
Honduras’ new president is reviewing his predecessor’s agreements with China, a process that could help the US push to reduce the Asian nation’s influence in the region and lead to recognition of Taiwan. – Bloomberg
The United States is not looking at imminent military action against Havana despite President Donald Trump’s repeated threats that “Cuba is next” and that American warships deployed in the Middle East for the Iran conflict could return by way of the island, U.S. officials say. – Associated Press
United States
President Trump escalated his public feud with Pope Leo XIV, accusing the pontiff of endangering Catholics by opposing U.S. military action against Iran. – Wall Street Journal
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is coordinating with the World Health Organization to help global authorities contain a hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship, signaling collaboration from the U.S. with international authorities despite changes to its global public-health strategy that experts say make the country more vulnerable to disease. – Wall Street Journal
A specialized federal court in New York delivered a new blow to President Donald Trump’s effort to impose widespread tariffs, ruling against the levies the president imposed after the Supreme Court decision in February that eliminated most of his emergency import taxes. – Washington Post
David Harsanyi writes: The Intifada has been globalized. In most American cities, synagogues and other Jewish community centers are forced to hire security teams to protect their members. Imagine going to church every week knowing that you’re putting your children at increased risk? This is the reality for many observant Jews. In New York City, this insidious intimidation has been encouraged by the mayor. After the Jewish preschool attached to Park East Synagogue had to be closed early because it would have been unsafe to dismiss children into a mob of terrorist sympathizers, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani offered an obligatory statement about safety, before noting that he was “deeply opposed” to the event because property in West Bank was allegedly being sold, which was “illegal under international law.” – Washington Examiner
Christopher Hale writes: However, no Catholic Republican has ever run for president while a sitting pope publicly ruled his administration’s war outside Catholic moral teaching, and while another Catholic in that same White House mocked the pope on cable radio. Rubio inherits both at once. The morning’s icy photograph supplied the visual proof. Behind it lay the State Department’s 53 words on one side and Rome’s 120 on the other—and the verdict belonged unmistakably to Rome. Marco Rubio came to Rome to defuse a fight with the Vatican. By midday, he had become its public face. That is what today changed. – Newsweek
Cybersecurity
On a recent call with the heads of the biggest artificial-intelligence companies, Vice President JD Vance was alarmed. New AI models such as Anthropic’s Mythos, which are capable of finding software vulnerabilities on their own, threatened to disrupt small-town banks, hospitals and water plants by starting cyberattacks that local governments weren’t equipped to handle, Vance said. – Wall Street Journal
Australia’s corporate regulator has urged the country’s financial sector to take urgent action on tackling potential cyber risks from frontier AI systems such as Mythos. – Reuters
A US judge blasted the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency project for relying on artificial intelligence tools as it orchestrated roughly $100 million in cuts to federal funding for humanities programs last year. – Bloomberg
Two U.S. nationals were sentenced to 18 months in prison for running laptop farms that facilitated North Korea’s expansive remote IT workers scheme, the Justice Department said Wednesday. – Cyberscoop
Nation-state hackers from Iran are deploying the Chaos ransomware as cover for alleged espionage and data theft operations, according to new research. – The Record
Defense
The Trump administration has approved sales of thousands of air defense interceptor missiles and related services valued at $17 billion to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, according to State Department and congressional officials. – New York Times
The Department of Defense is looking for AI-enhanced target recognition to help troops, vehicles and ships destroy drones. – Defense News
U.S. forces struck a target on Luzon in the Philippines earlier this week with a Tomahawk cruise missile in a first-of-its-kind long-range precision strike drill within the first island chain. – USNI News
Justin Lynch writes: If the U.S. Army does not change its path, it will enter its next major war with command posts optimized for training rotations rather than survival. If it does not improve the survivability of its command posts soon, they will be found and destroyed. Leaders cannot assume that they will change their practices when they receive orders to deploy or figure it out once they get in theater. Attempting to do so is asking for unnecessary casualties or even mission failure. If survivability is going to improve, commanders must know during training, in evaluations, and in doctrine that command post security is just as critical as logistics, maneuver, and fires. – War on the Rocks