Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israel says drone from Lebanon flew toward Netanyahu’s home Israel killed Sinwar by forcing him from the tunnels Sinwar’s bloody gambit changed the Middle East—but not as he imagined WSJ Editorial: After Sinwar, the ICC stands exposed NYT’s Bret Stephens: Sinwar’s death is a tricky opportunity U.S. investigates intelligence leak about Israel’s plans for attacking Iran Pentagon chief arrives in Kyiv without any sign of budging on Ukraine’s biggest weapons requests WaPo’s David Ignatius: Ukraine’s defense minister outlines Kyiv’s ‘victory plan’ Israel expands Lebanon campaign with strikes on banks it links to Hezbollah South Korea summons Russian envoy to protest North Korea troop dispatch US State Department approves sale of tactical missiles to Japan for $360 million In Moldova, a pro-Russian oligarch with a criminal past tries to derail path to EuropeIn The News
Israel
A drone from Lebanon was flown toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence near Tel Aviv before exploding early Saturday, his office said, in an attack that comes a day after Hezbollah threatened to escalate its conflict with Israel. – Wall Street Journal
For the next nine months, Israel’s number one target, Yahya Sinwar, architect of the Oct. 7 attacks last year, remained elusive, a ghost in the subterranean darkness. “It doesn’t matter how many tunnels there are,” said then-Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus at the time. Israel would get him, he said. – Wall Street Journal
Sinwar’s final moments were on display in a video released by Israel that apparently showed the Hamas chief critically injured, throwing an object at a surveillance drone shortly before his death. When Gazans saw the footage, many changed their minds, Muhammed said. – Wall Street Journal
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar sought to remake the Middle East with last year’s attack on Israel, dragging Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and much of the region into what he foresaw as a decisive battle ending in the Jewish state’s demise. The region, and the world’s balance of power, have indeed been decisively altered in the aftermath of that carnage, which killed some 1,200 Israelis. – Wall Street Journal
At least 73 people were killed when an Israeli airstrike slammed into a group of homes in the northern Gaza Strip, the civil defense force said Saturday, as Israel’s military intensified operations there just days after President Joe Biden suggested that the death of Hamas’s leader could usher in an end to the ruinous war. – Washington Post
Israel has barred six medical NGOs with operations in Gaza from entering the besieged enclave, where the health-care system has collapsed, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The WHO said there was no explanation provided for the denials of access, which were communicated by Israeli authorities in the past two weeks. – Washington Post
Rescuers were combing the rubble and searching for survivors on Sunday in the town of Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, where Palestinian officials said an overnight Israeli airstrike hit a residential building and killed dozens of people. The Gazan Health Ministry said on Sunday that at least 87 people were killed or were missing, with more than 40 others wounded. – New York Times
The families of several Israeli hostages held in Gaza issued a sharply worded televised statement on Saturday in which they called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to seize the moment after this week’s killing of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, to reach a hostage and cease-fire deal to bring home their loved ones. – New York Times
The Israeli military said on Friday it had identified what it called “a number of suspects” in Jordan’s border area trying to cross into Israel south of the Dead Sea region and had killed two of them after they opened fire on Israeli forces. – Reuters
The Palestinian militant group Hamas will likely replace Yahya Sinwar with a new political leader based outside Gaza while his brother – Mohammad Sinwar – is expected to assume a bigger role directing the war against Israel in the territory, experts say. – Reuters
Former SodaStream head Daniel Birnbaum has offered a $100,000 reward to whoever returns hostages detained in the Gaza Strip. In a video posted on social media, where he spoke in English and included Arabic subtitles, Birnbaum addressed the residents of Gaza directly. The video has gained widespread circulation. – Jerusalem Post
The US military has rushed its advanced anti-missile system to Israel and it is now “in place,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday. THAAD, or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, is a critical part of the US military’s layered air defense systems and adds to Israel’s already formidable anti-missile defenses. – Times of Israel
Editorial: Yet the White House is still protecting the ICC. Over Mr. Biden’s objections, 42 House Democrats joined Republicans in early June to pass a bill sanctioning the ICC. The measure likely could pass the Senate, but Sens. Chuck Schumer and Ben Cardin have done the White House’s bidding and sat on it, despite pressure by Sen. Jim Risch and other Republicans. Mr. Schumer promised bipartisan negotiations on an ICC sanctions bill. He never delivered, so the U.S. does nothing as the ICC expands its jurisdiction and stands poised to take up Hamas’s political struggle against Israel. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: In May, when the IDF began its invasion of Rafah, the resistance was massive. Yet it was where Sinwar was killed and what IDF chief spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday night was the defense establishment’s prediction, that he was wandering between Khan Yunis and Rafah to survive. The IDF must be able to do what it needs. It knows what it is doing and is doing so methodically. Everyone opposed the invasion back then, but it brought results. Now is the time to push the diplomatic pedal; military might won’t be enough, it never is. The day-after plan has become more urgent than ever. Left unsettled, it leaves Israel stuck and pushes the strain on the nation even further. – Jerusalem Post
Michael Doran writes: Mr. Biden’s cease-fire initiative will likely come with a demand for even more restraint by Israel against Iran. Mr. Netanyahu may or may not heed such counsel. If he does, he will then pursue “total victory” in Gaza and Lebanon even more urgently—if only to prove that Iran and its proxies can’t use America to restrain Israel so they can shoot at it with impunity. – Wall Street Journal
Bret Stephens writes: This could be done in various ways. Indefinite Israeli control of Gaza’s border with Egypt will help stop Hamas from rearming and give Israelis greater assurance that the territory will not again become a mortal threat. An offer of safe passage out of Gaza for Hamas fighters and their families can thin the group’s ranks. Creating well-supplied humanitarian safe zones (perhaps administered by NATO security forces) for Gazan women, children, the elderly and men who have passed a security screening can further safeguard civilians and separate them from potential combatants. – New York Times
Audrey Kurth Cronin writes: The challenge, of course, is that now there is no one with whom to negotiate a cease-fire. By killing Sinwar, Israel has probably not only failed to defeat Hamas but has also made it more likely that it will have little choice but to continue its destructive and strategically aimless war in Gaza, a conflict that in the long run will feed the enmity among Palestinians that Sinwar exploited—and that those who will follow him will exploit, too. – Foreign Affairs
Iran
The U.S. is investigating the leak of top-secret American documents that show Israel military preparations for an expected strike on Iran, U.S. officials said Sunday. The two leaked reports were prepared last week by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which analyzes imagery gathered by American reconnaissance satellites and other intelligence. – Wall Street Journal
Despite official efforts to project strength, however, the depth of the crisis for Iran is clear: Israel is crushing Tehran’s allies in the region, making it more vulnerable to attack. And while the United States has sought to limit the scope of Israel’s response, the strikes could destabilize Iran’s fragile economy, stir divisions among government opponents and undercut hopes that the country’s new, pro-reform president would usher in an era of engagement with the West. – Washington Post
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will not halt the “Axis of Resistance” and that Hamas would live on. – Reuters
Naval drills hosted by Iran with the participation of Russia and Oman and observed by nine other countries began in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, Iran’s state TV said. – Reuters
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, responding to comments by U.S. President Joe Biden, said on Saturday anyone who knows “how and when Israel will attack Iran” should be held accountable. – Reuters
An Iranian newspaper implying that the public needed to have the patience of the Biblical figure Job in waiting for President Masoud Pezeshkian to lift restrictions on the internet now faces potential criminal charges. – Associated Press
Russia & Ukraine
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Kyiv on Monday bearing a message of strong U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s war effort but with no new military assistance or permission for its forces to use long-range missiles inside Russia. – Wall Street Journal
Mariupol became an emblem of Russia’s destruction early in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Now the ruined port city is war bounty, enriching allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow’s forces crippled one of the city’s two giant steel mills, Azovstal, while crushing some of Ukraine’s fiercest resistance to the onslaught. – Wall Street Journal
With Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year and with no end in sight, opposition supporters say it has never been more urgent to form an effective, united front against Putin, as the number of soldiers dying on the front rises, the Kremlin imposes new taxes to fund the military and society only grows more nationalistic and repressive. – Washington Post
The annual summit of the BRICS group of countries being held in Russia this week is so central to President Vladimir Putin’s effort to parade powerful friends and project global prestige that local authorities warned residents in the host city of Kazan not to drive shabby cars in case they undermine his message. – Washington Post
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he was seeking a strong reaction from countries who have acknowledged that North Korea is becoming more involved in Russia’s more than 2-1/2-year-old war against Ukraine. – Reuters
Russian forces are fighting street-to-street battles with Ukrainian troops in the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian town of Selydove as Moscow’s forces push to gain control over the whole of the Donbas region, according to pro-Russian bloggers. – Reuters
Recent statements by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration that Washington is ready for nuclear talks without preconditions with Russia, China and North Korea are a “deception,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. – Reuters
Russia launched several waves of drones targeting Kyiv for the second night in a row, damaging residential buildings and injuring at least one civilian, Ukrainian officials said early on Monday. – Reuters
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been forced to move many warships from the naval base of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsular, which Russia annexed in 2014, due to attacks by Ukraine, a Russian-installed official was quoted as saying on Sunday. – Reuters
Ukraine struck a manufacturer of military explosives deep inside Russian territory overnight, as well as storage infrastructure at a military airfield in the Lipetsk region, Kyiv’s General Staff said in a statement on Sunday. – Reuters
Ukraine is not considering developing nuclear weapons and recent reports on the topic were driven by an incorrect interpretation of remarks by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, his chief of staff said on Friday. – Reuters
David Ignatius writes: As the U.S. election approaches, the most urgent part of Zelensky’s victory plan may be the request for a quick invitation to join NATO. The Biden administration is weighing historical precedents that might allow NATO membership even if Russia still controls some Ukrainian territory. One example is West Germany’s NATO membership, even while East Germany was occupied by Russian troops. Another is Norway, which agreed when it joined NATO in 1949 that it wouldn’t allow foreign bases or troops on its territory or nuclear weapons in its ports. Umerov said such details are issues for later. “We want the invitation first.” – Washington Post
Stephanie Baker writes: Oil is the key. Russia earned $17.1 billion in oil export revenue in July 2024 alone, part of an expected $192 billion haul for 2024, according to a base case scenario detailed by the Kyiv School of Economics. But stepped-up sanctions enforcement could drive that number down. As my colleague Julian Lee has pointed out, worries about the repercussions initially drove buyers away from using blacklisted vessels earlier this year. But the lack of action has emboldened Russia to load at least 21 sanctioned tankers between late April and early October. Sanctions aren’t working as well as they could, but it’s time to stop tinkering and hit Putin where it hurts. – Bloomberg
Max Hastings writes: This war started because Moscow refuses to tolerate a successful democratic, independent neighbor. This remains the chief impediment to ending it: Putin wants a Russian puppet government in Kyiv and the Ukrainians have sacrificed tens of thousands of lives to prevent such an outcome. There has been a grievous failure of leadership in the West. The only people who can claim to have contrived finest hours from the Ukraine war are the Ukrainians. Their allies are proving to lack steel and staying power for a protracted conflict. Some analysts derive comfort from the fact that the West has supported Ukraine thus far, and made Putin pay a heavy price for a very limited success. – Bloomberg
Jack Watling writes: Positive signs abound: the Australian government’s announcement that it will provide M1A1 tanks to Ukraine, Sweden’s provision of a large tranche of infantry fighting vehicles, and the United States’ commitment to supply additional equipment before the end of the year. The security of Europe now depends on significant multilateral cooperation to ensure that any path toward ending the war achieves the best possible result for Ukraine. But as attention shifts to negotiations, U.S. and European military support must not wane, for although a successful outcome can be achieved only through diplomacy, what is diplomatically possible will always depend on the military realities on the ground. – Foreign Affairs
Oleksandr Moskalenko writes: Putin was the first Moscow leader to visit Pyongyang, a price he had to pay to get the aid he wanted. His mission has emphasized Russia’s geopolitical degradation and its newfound status as an international outcast along with Northern Korea and Iran. The inevitable question arises — just how far is Putin prepared to go? This is where Russia has arrived. In a political and moral swamp with the world’s most despised. Perhaps one day, Russia will magically return to normality and behave again like a grown-up member of the world community. Perhaps, but for now, it is no better than a wicked mixture of Stalin’s cruelty and Brezhnev’s infirmity. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Hezbollah
The Israeli military launched airstrikes on branches of a bank in Lebanon that the U.S. and Israel have linked to Hezbollah, escalating its military campaign to strike institutions that are part of the group’s far-reaching network of economic and social influence. – Wall Street Journal
Israeli bombs have blown up its munitions stores and killed thousands of its fighters, including many seasoned commanders. And yet, Hezbollah keeps fighting. Since Israel invaded southern Lebanon nearly three weeks ago, its forces have confronted a flexible enemy that uses the environment to launch complex and sometimes deadly operations. – New York Times
Israel said its air force attacked Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut on Sunday as well as an underground workshop for the production of weapons. – Reuters
Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, has relocated from Lebanon to Iran out of fear that Israel may attempt to assassinate him, according to a Sunday report by the Emirati website Aram News, citing an Iranian source. – Jerusalem Post
The Military Police has opened an investigation into the death of a Hezbollah detainee while he was in the custody of troops in southern Lebanon, the IDF said Saturday. – Times of Israel
A tunnel in southern Lebanon belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force was recently demolished by combat engineers, the IDF said Saturday. The military described the underground passage as one of Radwan’s central tunnels in Lebanon, which included a command center, a weapons depot, rooms to reside in, scooter bikes, and other equipment. – Times of Israel
Iraq
Iraqi regulators have suspended the license of a Saudi-owned television channel and are taking steps to terminate its right to operate in Iraq after the channel aired a report describing former leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s Quds Force as “faces of terrorism.” – New York Times
Iraqi Kurds voted on Sunday for a new regional parliament amid an economic crisis caused by an enforced halt in oil exports and corrosive rivalry between the two main political parties. – Reuters
Hundreds of protesters gathered Friday in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah demanding the release of activists arrested over earlier demonstrations, with clashes breaking out between protesters and security forces. – Associated Press
Turkey
Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish-born Muslim cleric who oversaw a global network of schools, media outlets, think tanks and charities from exile in the United States and was vilified in his homeland for alleged attempts to take over the state, died on Oct. 20. – Washington Post
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that a project to possibly supply Turkey with Eurofighter jets was an effort being driven by Britain and was in the early stages. – Reuters
Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan thanked Germany’s Olaf Scholz for his help in advancing a defense contract following talks in Istanbul on Saturday, although the pair remained starkly at odds over the Middle East crisis. – Agence France-Presse
Lebanon
While much of southern Lebanon falls under the de facto control of Hezbollah, the ancient valleys here hold a scattering of towns and villages that are predominantly Christian, Druze or Sunni Muslim. None of them have rallied to support Hezbollah. Their neutrality largely protected them during the first 11 months of the conflict, but now the war is creeping quickly toward them. – Washington Post
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister accused Iran on Friday of meddling in the country’s affairs, opening up a rare diplomatic spat after Iran’s parliament speaker remarked that his country was ready to help negotiate terms to bring about a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. – New York Times
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein will be in Beirut on Monday for talks with Lebanese officials on conditions for a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, two sources in Lebanon told Reuters, as Israel expanded its air campaign on the group’s assets overnight. – Reuters
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement that an Israeli army bulldozer had demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a U.N. position in Marwahin in southern Lebanon on Sunday. – Reuters
Some prominent Lebanese Americans on Friday endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris for president, saying in a letter that the U.S. had been “unrelenting” in its support for Lebanon under the Biden administration and they expect additional backing if Harris wins in November. – Reuters
Tatiana Waisberg writes: Humanitarian assistance to the local population does not have to stop, on the contrary, UNIFIL can help ease the suffering of the civilian population, but it should show more flexibility while doing so. Unlike other peacekeeping forces, which have had their reputation damaged by scandals, including sex abuse in exchange for aid, this is not the case for UNIFIL. Its size and capabilities can now be redirected toward logistical support. It can collaborate with other organizations, states, and NGOs. This could be a step toward curbing Israel’s intention to push for an end to UNIFIL. Alternatively, it risks turning into an entity exploited by Hezbollah as a trap for IDF forces. – Jerusalem Post
Amotz Asa-El writes: Then again, Lebanon’s restoration cannot begin with politics, or the economy. It will have to begin with the armed forces, a task that will boil down to all Lebanese militias’ disarmament and the Lebanese Army’s empowerment. Only then will Lebanon be able to have a credible government and a functioning economy. France can make this happen. It has a real army, one that can build the Lebanese military from scratch, the way the British built last century Jordan’s fine army. Such a French-built army could help restore Lebanon’s freedom, tolerance, and vigor, and also a measure of France’s pride. – Jerusalem Post
Egypt
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned on Sunday Egypt may be forced to re-evaluate its $8 billion programme with the IMF if international institutions do not take into account the extraordinary regional challenges the country is facing. – Reuters
The World Health Organization said on Sunday it had certified Egypt as malaria free, marking the elimination of a disease that had been present in the country since ancient times. – Reuters
Egypt has revised its renewable energy target for 2040 down to 40% from a previous goal of 58%, Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi said on Sunday, underscoring that natural gas will remain a key part of the country’s energy mix for years. – Reuters
Gulf States
President Vladimir Putin told the visiting president of the United Arab Emirates on Sunday that relations between the two states amounted to a “strategic partnership” and thanked him for mediation efforts in exchanging prisoners of war with Ukraine. – Reuters
Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) is “fairly bullish” on China’s oil demand especially in light of the government’s stimulus package which aims to boost growth, the head of the state-owned oil giant said on Monday. – Reuters
Joe Biden has been urged to pressure Qatar over hosting the potential next generation of Hamas leaders and exert his diplomatic power to push for the release of remaining hostages and a ceasefire. – The Telegraph
Middle East & North Africa
Yemen’s Houthis said on Friday they targeted a ship, which they identified as Megalopolis, in the Arabian Sea with drones, without specifying a date. – Reuters
Tunisian court sentenced on Friday the prominent official in Ennahda opposition party Noureddine Bhiri to 10 years in prison, on charges of attacking state security and inciting Tunisians against each other, a lawyer told Reuters. – Reuters
Tunisia’s central bank will no longer have the exclusive power to adjust interest rates or foreign exchange policy, and must only take such action in consultation with the government, but it will be allowed to finance the treasury, a bill proposed by lawmakers showed on Friday. – Reuters
Korean Peninsula
South Korea’s spy agency reported Friday that at least 1,500 North Korean Special Forces troops are training in far eastern Russia, and it showed satellite photos tracking their movements. Ukrainian officials have accused North Korea of preparing to send as many as 10,000 troops to fight on Russia’s side against Ukrainian forces. – Washington Post
South Korea’s foreign ministry has summoned the Russian ambassador in Seoul in protest over what it has said is the dispatch of North Korean troops to the country for deployment in Ukraine, the Yonhap news agency reported on Monday. – Reuters
North Korea’s foreign minister said a new multilateral sanctions monitoring team led by the United States was “utterly unlawful and illegitimate”, state media reported on Sunday. – Reuters
North Korea said on Saturday it had discovered the remains of a crashed South Korean military drone, suggesting it was on a propaganda mission in the latest confrontation between the two involving cross-border flying objects. – Reuters
China
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te thanked the air force on Friday for their “outstanding” work during Chinese war games around the island earlier this week, telling them to keep up the good work. – Reuters
Chinese state media reported on Saturday that President Xi Jinping on Thursday inspected a brigade of the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force, urging the troops to boost their “deterrence and combat capabilities”. – Reuters
China-based DJI sued the U.S. Defense Department on Friday for adding the drone maker to a list of companies allegedly working with Beijing’s military, saying the designation is wrong and has caused the company significant financial harm. – Reuters
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Saturday that businesses wanted “stability and clarity” in trade with China, as London seeks to reset relations with Beijing under the new Labour government. – Reuters
Editorial: Communist Party leaders will never admit to any of that, but even they recognize the policy has been an economic disaster. Intended to prevent the population from expanding beyond what a developing economy could support, the effect has been nearer the opposite. China’s aging and soon-to-be shrinking population is now an impediment to economic growth. President Xi Jinping abandoned the one-child policy in 2016, and in 2021 the Party allowed parents to have up to three children. Apparently this isn’t having the desired effect, so now Beijing may attempt natalist subsidies. The problem for Beijing is that these subsidies haven’t worked anywhere they’ve been tried. – Wall Street Journal
Andrew Liang writes: This general asymmetry is something that the U.S. can harness to its advantage in negotiating with China. Preventing coercion — not just against U.S. companies, but also against those of allies and partners — will depend on American willingness to use the same technique in the other direction. Such action, moreover, need not take place to have the intended effect. It’s enough for Beijing to believe that Washington is both able and willing to do so. – The Hill
South Asia
At least six migrant workers and a doctor were shot dead in India’s Kashmir region on Sunday night when militants opened fire near a tunnel construction site, officials said, days after a new government was formed in the territory. – Reuters
Authorities shut schools, colleges and universities in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province on Friday following the most violent student protests in the country in recent years over the alleged rape of a student on campus, officials said. – Reuters
An Indian ex-official charged by the U.S. with directing a murder-for-hire plot has dismissed the allegations, his family said, expressing shock that Vikash Yadav was wanted by the FBI. – Reuters
India’s trade minister on Saturday said the country has sought a critical mineral partnership agreement with the United States as he hopes for talks on a broader trade pact between the two nations. – Reuters
Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free. – Associated Press
Asia
In his two terms in office, Mr. Joko, who stepped down on Sunday, transformed Indonesia, virtually eradicating extreme poverty in the sprawling archipelago, where about 280 million people live. But many believe he also tried to bend the laws to install a political dynasty, undercutting the very democracy that let him become the country’s first president who was not from the military or the long-established political elite. – New York Times
A man was arrested in Tokyo on Saturday and accused of throwing several incendiary devices at the headquarters of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and slamming his car into a security fence outside the nearby office of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the police in Tokyo said. – New York Times
Indonesia’s newly minted leader, President Prabowo Subianto, officially swore in his cabinet on Monday, a team which analysts said reflected continuity of his predecessor’s main policies. – Reuters
Foreign minister David Lammy will look to deepen Britain’s security cooperation with Indonesia and South Korea during his visit to the two Asian countries in which he is also expected to discuss the clean energy transition. – Reuters
The U.S. State Department approved a possible sale to Japan of tactical missiles and related equipment for $360 million, the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday. – Reuters
The Chinese Consulate in Myanmar’s second-largest city has been slightly damaged by an explosive device, but there were no casualties, the military, independent media and a city resident said Saturday. – Associated Press
An Indigenous senator told King Charles III that Australia is not his land and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the monarch is not needed as the country’s head of state as the British royal visited Australia’s parliament on Monday. – Associated Press
Europe
Officials say the illegal campaign material, amounting to a million leaflets and newspapers, was churned out to derail Sunday’s presidential election and a referendum on constitutional changes meant to bring the former Soviet republic closer to joining the European Union. – Wall Street Journal
Italy, the single biggest point of arrival for asylum seekers making their way into the European Union from African shores, on Wednesday sent a first ship of intercepted migrants to a new asylum camp in Albania — which is not a member of the bloc. The plan is for migrants to be detained here while their asylum claims are adjudicated remotely by Italian judges. – Washington Post
Half of Moldovans voted “yes” in Sunday’s referendum on the country’s EU aspirations, early results showed, putting the small nation tugged between East and West on a path towards joining the single market despite pressure from Russia. – Reuters
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday he had ordered his ministry to start legal proceedings against French President Emmanuel Macron after Paris banned Israeli firms from participating in an upcoming military naval trade show. – Reuters
Thousands of people protested in holiday resorts in Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday against over tourism which they say prices local people out of the housing market. – Reuters
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili addressed a crowd of thousands at rally in the capital on Sunday, delivering a strong pro-EU message just days before a fiercely-contested parliamentary election. – Reuters
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday for helping his country secure sufficient supplies of natural gas for the winter. – Reuters
Switzerland has signed up to the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), the government said on Friday, a project which seeks to build a unified air and missile defence system across Europe. – Reuters
Romania’s radar systems detected a second drone in as many days breaching its national airspace that fighter jets scrambled overnight did not see, the defence ministry said on Saturday. – Reuters
The British government plans to further appeal a Belfast court ruling that legislation introduced by the previous government was incompatible with human-rights protections secured in a post-Brexit agreement for Northern Ireland. – Reuters
Parties spanning the spectrum from left to right agreed on Friday to try to form a government in the German state of Thuringia, setting aside deep political differences to keep the far-right Alternative for Germany out of power. – Reuters
German authorities said Sunday that they have arrested a Libyan national with suspected ties to the extremist Islamic State group who was allegedly planning a firearms attack on the Israeli Embassy. – Associated Press
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will set aside billions of pounds for the National Health Service in her budget next week as the institution kicks off an extensive program of reform. – Bloomberg
The Dutch government announced that companies will need an export permit if they want to sell quantum computers outside the European Union. “The cabinet primarily took this step out of national security reasons,” Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Aid Reinette Klever wrote Friday in a letter to the Dutch parliament. – Bloomberg
Africa
A lawyer and a party official for the leading opposition candidate in Mozambique’s recent presidential election were fatally shot in their car late Friday night, inflaming tensions in a southern African nation that was already on edge after the highly disputed vote this month. – New York Times
Kenya’s impeached deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, said on Sunday his security protection team had been withdrawn and that President William Ruto would be responsible if anything happened to him. – Reuters
Unidentified people abducted, beat and seriously injured a senior Tanzanian opposition party official before dumping her in a forest, her party said on Sunday, a month after a similar abduction and murder of another of its party leaders. – Reuters
Sudan’s army said on Sunday a commander from its foe the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had defected with some of his troops, in what would be the first such move by a senior figure since the sides started fighting more than 18 months ago. – Reuters
South Africa’s government said on Friday that it had asked Taiwan to relocate its de facto embassy out of the capital Pretoria, while Taiwan accused it of bowing to pressure from China. – Reuters
Andreas Kluth writes: The US might also refrain from being too preachy. When Uganda passed a draconian anti-homosexuality law last year, the Biden administration was right to protest. But did it also need to revoke Uganda’s eligibility for the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act? Too much moralizing only pushes more Africans to embrace Russia and China. The biggest problem is the lack of interest in Washington. This is hard to take for those in the know. For example, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, says that “the worst situation that we have seen in the world” — in terms of killing, rape and starvation — is not Ukraine, Gaza or the Levant, but Sudan. Yet whenever she brings up the subject, “it’s like crickets.” In a sense, she could say that about the continent as a whole. – Bloomberg
Tim Liptrot writes: The 2023–24 Sudanese civil war is a severe tragedy that the international community must respond to. However, the severity of the crisis may lead policymakers and advocates to leap to action without considering the second-order effects of interventions. The United States should resist the urge to sanction bad guys and carefully consider how its actions shape the broader strategic context. The strategy of isolating both large armed groups for fighting has serious flaws. If both are equally damaged, it does not influence the peace process. In practice, one group will benefit in relative terms. Most importantly, isolating both armed groups would improve the independence of small armed groups and commanders, potentially pushing Sudan further toward fragmentation and state failure. – War on the Rocks
The Americas
After spending more than 810 days in a cramped cell with little more than his books to keep him company, one of Guatemala’s most renowned journalists was released to house detention on Saturday night as he waits to find out whether he will be granted a new trial. – New York Times
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to visit the Amazon rainforest and meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva before they attend the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in November, sources familiar with the negotiations told Reuters. – Reuters
Peru’s massive Chancay port, which authorities hope will become a major shipping hub for South America-Asia trade, will ship two container ships a week beginning late next month, an executive for port operator Cosco Shipping said on Friday. – Reuters
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday canceled his trip to Russia for a BRICS summit after an accident at home that left him with a cut on the back of his head, slightly above the neck, his office said. – Associated Press
Global environmental leaders gather Monday in Cali, Colombia to assess the world’s plummeting biodiversity levels and commitments by countries to protect plants, animals and critical habitats. – Associated Press
Latin America
Businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who was freed in a prisoner exchange with the United States last year, has been named as industry minister, Maduro said on Friday in a social media post. – Reuters
Colombian land dedicated to the cultivation of coca leaves, a raw ingredient for cocaine, jumped 10% last year to reach the largest area in over two decades, a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) found on Friday. – Reuters
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Friday appointed to his Cabinet a close ally who was pardoned by U.S. President Joe Biden last year as part of a prisoner swap and following assurances that Venezuela would hold a fair presidential election in 2024. – Associated Press
Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, met with the producers of the “6:29” Nova memorial exhibit in Buenos Aires and expressed his support for Israel, the exhibition organizers announced on Saturday. – Jerusalem Post
North America
Almost a decade later, Trudeau is fighting for political survival. About two-thirds of the public disapproves of his performance. His Liberal Party is losing once-safe seats, and some members of his caucus say Trudeau needs to go. And the Trudeau brand is now stubbornly unpopular as Canadians say they are simply tired of him. – Wall Street Journal
Electricity went out across Cuba on Friday just hours after its cash-strapped government ordered the shutdown of nonessential businesses to save power as millions of residents were already suffering from widespread outages. – Wall Street Journal
A Mexican Catholic priest was killed on Sunday in the southern state of Chiapas after officiating a mass, his religious order and authorities said, marking the latest death in a recent wave of violence in the area. – Reuters
India’s envoy to Canada, who is being expelled over what Ottawa says are links to the murder of a Sikh leader, insisted in an interview he was innocent and said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had wrecked bilateral political ties. – Reuters
Gangs attacked in several neighborhoods of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on Saturday, forcing many people to leave their homes after gunfire raged through the night. Authorities did not immediately release casualty information. – Associated Press
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to expand the arms embargo in Haiti to all types of weapons and ammunition, expressing grave concern at the extremely high levels of gang violence and criminal activities in the impoverished Caribbean nation. – Associated Press
Editorial: But nothing stops Cuba from importing the parts it needs from the rest of the world. The real problem is a regime that can’t make much of anything work except exporting its people. Russia and Venezuela have reduced fuel sales to the island, which can’t pay its bills. Shortages of food and medicine are rampant. Cuba’s dictatorship is a human tragedy and its people deserve much better. But they won’t get it as long as Communists run the place and enrich themselves at the expense of the people they impoverish. – Wall Street Journal
Arturo Mcfields Yescas writes: Mexico’s irrational defense of Russia, Iran, Cuba and even Venezuela should be seen as a serious problem. Acting like nothing is happening and calling the current government a partner is not only naive but dangerous. The Morena party’s second term in power is showing more radicalization inside and outside the country. Mexico is on the path toward less democracy and greater autocracy, less diplomacy and greater ideological turbulence. Observers should be positive and expect the best — but always prepare for the worst. – The Hill
Shannon K. O’Neil writes: Sheinbaum will pursue a policy agenda based on her inclinations, her ambitions, and her domestic constraints. But the United States can make it clear that there will be consequences if she continues down a path that is setting Mexico up to be a less reliable economic, commercial, security, and democratic player. Washington should not bemoan its faltering relations with Mexico City just yet; whoever wins November’s election will have opportunities for détente, and even partnership. – Foreign Affairs
United States
Sidelined at home in the waning days of the campaign to succeed him, President Biden made a brief return to the global spotlight on Friday, rallying allies in support of Ukraine, and basking in praise from the German government. Mr. Biden made a dash to Berlin that lasted barely a day, in a hastily rescheduled trip that was scuttled last week by Hurricane Milton. – New York Times
A U.S. and a Canadian warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait together on Sunday less than a week after China conducted a new round of war games around the island, with Beijing denouncing the mission as “disruptive”. – Reuters
Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, on Sunday called on law enforcement to investigate billionaire Elon Musk for his promise at a weekend pro-Trump rally to give away $1 million each day until Election Day. – Reuters
Pakistan’s prime minister has written to U.S. President Joe Biden to request the release of a Pakistani woman who is serving an 86-year prison sentence in the U.S. for terrorism charges, a government lawyer told a court on Friday. – Associated Press
The US government is offering a reward of as much as $10 million for information “leading to the identification or location” of the Russian military media outlet Rybar and its employees, according to a statement posted on the Rewards for Justice mission. – Bloomberg
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign has rejected the claim that she believes the IDF is committing genocide in Gaza. “That is not the view of the Biden administration or the Vice President,” a Harris campaign official told the Jerusalem Post. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: The Biden-Harris administration has put millions of acres of public land off limits to all resource extraction. Lands that have not been ruled out of bounds must go through an onerous permitting process that allows radical environmentalists to block and stall mine construction at every turn. To safeguard the nuclear future, the Biden-Harris administration’s public land designations must be reversed, and the National Environmental Planning Act must be reformed to prevent frivolous lawsuits. The U.S. can meet the energy needs of tomorrow’s economy. The private sector is leading the way. We just need to fix regulatory mistakes in Washington to make that future a reality. – Washington Examiner
Erwin Chemerinsky writes: But silence, too, is a message. And it is more. In the eyes of the law, doing nothing can be viewed as deliberate indifference, which violates Title VI and can lead to action by the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education. At the very least, campus officials must issue a simple message: “Those who have praised the terrorism of Hamas on this campus have the right to express their views. But we, as campus officials, have the duty to say that celebrating murder, rape and taking hostages is deeply offensive and fundamentally inconsistent with what this university stands for.” – New York Times
Cybersecurity
IBM released the latest version of its artificial intelligence models catered towards businesses on Monday, looking to capitalize on the surge in enterprises adopting generative AI technology. – Reuters
Eutelsat, the world’s third-biggest satellite operator by revenue, launched 20 satellites for its communications network on Sunday, using Elon Musk’s SpaceX in its first move since the merger of two European companies last year. – Reuters
Cyprus said Sunday that it has successfully thwarted a digital attack aimed at blocking access to the government’s central online portal, the latest in a string of similar attacks over a three-day period against state-run utilities and the Cypriot subsidiary of a Greek energy company. – Associated Press
A Greek police officers association says it is planning legal action after names and details of hundreds of officers from a new elite crime-fighting agency were published on the internet. – Associated Press
The United States has indicted two Sundanese brothers linked to cyberattacks on early warning systems in Israel during the Hamas onslaught on October 7, 2023, and other attacks in Israel, the US and Europe, The New York Times reported Friday. – Times of Israel
Unknown hackers have reportedly attempted to infect Israeli organizations with wiper malware delivered through phishing emails that impersonated the cybersecurity firm ESET. – The Record
Joshua Levine writes: Policymakers and stakeholders within the United States should continue to monitor ongoing litigation and consider frameworks to address legitimate concerns of rights holders without cutting off access to public training data and stifling AI model development. We need to ensure that American model developers are free to train and iterate upon their existing technology. Failing to consider how an overly restrictive interpretation of copyright law would disadvantage American model developers is a strategic error that the United States cannot afford to make. – The National Interest
Defense
US Army boats, which carried out the temporary Gaza pier mission earlier this year, are poorly maintained and largely unprepared to meet the military’s growing mission in the Pacific, a new government oversight report said this week. – CNN
The moment that would change the Navy forever actually took place aboard the Carney 12 days later, on Oct. 19, when it became the first American warship to take out a barrage of Iran-backed Houthi rebel missiles and drones fired from Yemen. Such intercepts have since become a harrowing, near-daily occurrence for destroyers in those waters, and the year that followed Oct. 19, 2023, has irrevocably changed the Navy for the foreseeable future, Navy leaders and outside analysts say. – Defense News
Editorial: Considering that many military bases operate in proximity to civilian interests, it is important that any new rules be proportionate and tethered to accountability. Absent imminent threat, it should be the responsibility of the officer in charge to decide whether to order the use of force, not a private standing post. Considering the variances of weather and visibility alongside the variances of drone sizes, appearances, and speeds, there is a risk that non-hostile drones or aircraft operating outside of a military base might accidentally be fired upon in some scenarios. That’s why the military also needs better detection technology, anti-drone defenses, and video surveillance equipment. – Washington Examiner
Nicholas Mahanic writes: Space may be largely empty, but it is not a true vacuum. Likewise, the Space Force does not truly lack for heritage or examples of courageous leadership if one knows where to look and how to present them. By using these existing examples, the Space Force can build its own unique culture, tailored toward its mission needs, and motivate its guardians with idealized examples of leadership and performance under pressure. – War on the Rocks
James Holmes writes: The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have been trying to replicate that capability—to little avail—ever since mothballing the battleships for the last time in 1992. But the sea services and Congress have also refused to let their desire to furnish the fleet with gunfire support crowd out platforms fit for this age of sea combat, such as supercarriers, destroyers, and submarines. The tradeoffs were too forbidding during World War II. They remain too forbidding today. – The National Interest