Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
U.S. rushes to shore up fragile Gaza cease-fire Hamas directing Al Jazeera Gaza coverage, suppressing Palestinian dissent, research center finds WSJ Editorial: No more cease-fire excuses for Hamas Iran says cooperation deal with UN nuclear watchdog is void Iran's Khamenei rejects Trump offer of talks, denies US destroyed Iranian nuclear capabilities New construction identified at Taleghan 2, a former AMAD plan nuclear weapons development site WINEP’s Anna Borshchevskaya: The window to counter Russia in Syria is closing Houthis release 5 Yemeni UN staffers in Sanaa after weekend detention at offices Iraq says some US military advisers will stay due to IS threat in Syria David Institute for Security Policy’s Moran Alaluf: Why Turkey is no longer the 'lesser evil' Australia says Chinese fighter jet released flares near its military plane European leaders back Trump's call for Ukraine ceasefire at present linesIn The News
Israel
Senior U.S. officials are heading to Israel, hoping to keep a fragile cease-fire and peace process for Gaza on track after repeated clashes between Hamas and Israel. – Wall Street Journal
Ten days into a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, relief is giving way to grim acknowledgments of the truce’s tenuousness, and of the need for continued outside intervention to keep it alive, let alone to make further progress. – New York Times
U.S. envoys met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday aiming to corral Israel and Hamas to get the Gaza ceasefire plan back on track after an explosion of violence over the weekend that threatened to derail the week-old truce. – Reuters
U.S. Vice President JD Vance is to visit Israel on Tuesday, the country’s airport authority said in a statement on Monday announcing preparations for his arrival at Tel Aviv’s airport. – Reuters
Israel said on Tuesday it had identified the body of a hostage that was released by Hamas overnight, while the militant group’s chief negotiator said Hamas is determined to implement the ceasefire agreement with Israel. – Associated Press
Documents uncovered in Gaza have revealed that Hamas has been issuing instructions to the Qatari state-run media outlet Al Jazeera, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. – Jerusalem Post
The move joins a series of Doha-funded projects in the health and education sectors in the Strip. It is interpreted in Gaza as yet another layer in consolidating the institutional infrastructure that the Qataris have been building over the years. – Jerusalem Post
No one knows what is written in the Phase II agreement between Israel, the US, and Qatar, but what is certain is that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already claimed his first prize and already has a foothold in Gaza, as emerges from new images revealed Monday, which show engineering equipment bearing the Turkish flag inside the Gaza Strip. – Jerusalem Post
US President Donald Trump said Monday he could ask Israel to return to withdrawn areas of Gaza and “eradicate” Hamas if he wanted to, but he is holding off for now in order to give the fragile ceasefire he brokered earlier this month a chance to succeed. – Times of Israel
A federal lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York seeks justice for American citizens harmed in Palestinian terror attacks, focusing on dual American-Israeli citizen Hananel Gez, who survived a deadly shooting near Jerusalem earlier this year. The case, filed under the US Anti-Terrorism Act, names the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as defendants. – Arutz Sheva
Hamas is covertly taking an active part in the creation of the technocratic government that will rule over the Gaza Strip after plan to end the war is fully implemented, Kan Reshet Bet reported on Tuesday. The reported participation would allow the terrorist organization to maintain its influence in the enclave. – Arutz Sheva
Israel is demanding from the United States not to begin the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip until there are movements on the ground that prove that Hamas is prepared to disarm, Kan News reported on Monday. – Arutz Sheva
The International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) at the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) is leading a delegation of prominent Israeli defense companies to ADEX 2025 – the International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition, taking place October 17-24 at Seoul Airport, South Korea. – Arutz Sheva
Israel allowed at least 66 Palestinians and Turkish citizens to leave the Gaza Strip earlier this month following a request from Turkey, Middle East Eye has learned. The group included 16 members of the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s family. – Middle East Eye
Editorial: But to prevent Hamas from reconstituting a rump state, the Arab “stabilization force” needs to get moving. If it isn’t able to quickly deploy, destroy tunnels and disarm Hamas—or if the parties look to make it another United Nations peacekeeping farce—forget it. An international team has entered Gaza to help the terrorists search for hostage bodies. Hamas is out of excuses not to turn them all over as agreed, and the Trump deal secured Israel and the U.S. leverage for a reason. Are they now willing to use it? Hamas will have to be convinced. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Whether the US – with Vance, Witkoff, and Kushner in person and Trump pulling the strings from Washington – and Israel will be able to bridge their divergent philosophies and strategies and bond over the shared goal of seeing a peaceful, rebuilt Gaza with a disarmed, ineffective Hamas will only become apparent in the coming weeks. What is apparent, however, is that Israel may have to make some hard decisions that could very well antagonize its US partners. Then we’ll see how strong the bond really is. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
Iran has scrapped a cooperation deal that it signed with the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA in September, its Supreme National Security Council Secretary said on Monday, according to state media. – Reuters
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday rejected an offer of renewed talks from U.S. President Donald Trump and denied his assertion that the United States has destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities. – Reuters
Both Tehran and Paris have the necessary will to resolve the “issue” of prisoners, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, a week after an Iranian court gave heavy prison sentences to two French citizens. – Reuters
Russia is prepared to expand cooperation with Iran in all areas, the Kremlin said on Monday. Moscow has close relations with Tehran and condemned U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites earlier this year that were carried out with the stated aim of preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear bomb. – Reuters
Israeli diplomats have been added to WhatsApp groups run from Iran and other hostile nations, according to a Monday report that cited an internal security warning issued to Foreign Ministry staff. – Times of Israel
New construction activity, which began before the June 12-Day War and continued afterwards, has been occurring at the former Taleghan 2 site, which was destroyed by an Israeli bombing on October 25th, 2024. Starting around mid-May, efforts were made to rebuild the structure destroyed in the October 2024 attack. – Institute for Science and International Security
Russia and Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine signaled Monday they were far apart on a peace deal, days after President Trump’s latest push to reach a settlement in a tense Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. – Wall Street Journal
For weeks, the Russians had held firm to this sliver of tree line, despite repeated Ukrainian assaults. But a new enemy was perched outside their dugout — one they knew they couldn’t beat: a small, wheeled robot packed with 138 pounds of explosives. – Washington Post
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy painted his meeting last week with Donald Trump as a success that yielded progress on acquiring new air defence systems, a contrast from reports that Trump had berated him with obscenities in the White House. – Reuters
A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Orenburg gas plant has forced neighbouring Kazakhstan to reduce production at its Karachaganak oil and gas condensate field by 25% to 30%, two industry sources told Reuters on Monday. – Reuters
The fragility of world security is unmatched since World War Two, requiring willingness to compromise to avoid a new global conflict, Russia’s RIA agency cited Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s SVR intelligence service, as saying on Tuesday. – Reuters
A new Russian attack on the Ukrainian border region of Chernihiv on Monday knocked out power to stretches of territory in the north of the country, including the main town outside the decommissioned Chornobyl nuclear power station, officials said. – Reuters
Russian lawmakers said on Monday they had drafted a law mandating life imprisonment for anyone involving minors in sabotage and lowering the age threshold for criminal responsibility for such crimes to 14 years old. – Reuters
Rosneft-controlled Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in Russia’s Volga region halted primary crude processing on Sunday following a drone attack, the second in a month, two industry sources told Reuters on Monday. – Reuters
Russia said its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, tasked with preparing a summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, held a “constructive” conversation on Monday. – Reuters
The Kremlin said on Monday that Budapest was chosen as the venue for an upcoming summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump because Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has good ties with both leaders. – Reuters
President Donald Trump said Monday that while he thinks it is possible that Ukraine can defeat Russia, he’s now doubtful it will happen. – Associated Press
The UK is preparing to spend more than $134 million to send its forces into Ukraine if a ceasefire agreement is reached. – Bloomberg
Italy has expressed readiness to pay for US weapons purchases for Ukraine as part of a special procurement program that’s essential to Kyiv’s efforts to fend off Russia’s full-scale invasion. – Bloomberg
The US is balking at a European Union-led plan for Group of Seven nations to expand the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, according to people familiar with the discussions. – Bloomberg
The US Senate will hold off on considering new sanctions legislation on Russia until after President Donald Trump’s planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the chamber’s Republican leader said. – Bloomberg
Ukraine shouldn’t have to give up territory as part of a peace deal with Russia, the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump pushed Kyiv to give up land to end the war. – Politico
Anna Borshchevskaya writes: Should ISIS resurge, Russia will not counter it with any consistency. Russia’s influence will ensure greater instability in Syria and, by extension, the Middle East. Moscow could exacerbate existing regional tensions to distract the West, potentially force it to expend its resources in future conflicts, and divert attention from Ukraine. The Middle East remains an important theater of Moscow’s broader confrontation with the West. Failure to stop Putin will lead to Russia’s resurgence in the region. – Washington Institute
Middle East & North Africa
This month, anger at the plant exploded into one of President Kais Saied’s biggest challenges since he took power in 2019. Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who stormed the complex, and thousands returned to the streets last Wednesday. – Reuters
An operation was underway on Monday to salvage the liquefied petroleum gas tanker MV Falcon, which remains on fire and adrift in the Gulf of Aden following an October 18 explosion on board, maritime security sources said. – Reuters
Houthi rebels released five Yemeni United Nations staff members and allowed 15 international ones to move freely within the U.N. compound after detaining them there in Sanaa over the weekend, a U.N. spokesperson said Monday. – Associated Press
Iraq ’s prime minister said Monday that a small contingent of U.S. military advisers will remain in the country for now to coordinate with U.S. forces in neighboring Syria combating the Islamic State group. – Associated Press
Morocco is planning to increase next year’s budget for social services, following a wave of youth-led protests against spending for the 2030 FIFA World Cup. – Bloomberg
France appropriated the home of a displaced Jewish family and has used it as its embassy in Iraq for 50 years without paying the family a single euro in rent. Now, instead of returning the property to its rightful owners, or compensating them for its continuing occupation by the emissaries of the Quai d’Orsay, the government of Emmanuel Macron has apparently determined to continue dragging the family through the courts and belaboring them with technical questions like whether they voluntarily surrendered property ownership when they fled Iraq in the 1950s. – Tablet Mag
A new training facility for the Qatari Air Force hosted at a US air base has practical benefits for Qatar, but also offers a broader signal about the solidifying ties between the two nations, experts told Breaking Defense. – Breaking Defense
April Longley Alley and Abdulkhaleq Abdulla write: Yet Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar’s wealth, diplomatic clout and good relations with the Trump administration uniquely position them to help forge progress on a variety of issues, from securing a day-after plan in Gaza to stabilizing Syria and moving toward a diplomatic solution with Iran on its nuclear ambitions and regional meddling. With the region in flux, this middle-power coordination toward a more peaceful future is sorely needed. – The Hill
Moran Alaluf writes: The logic of “the lesser evil”—choosing Turkey over Iran—has run its course. It is of the essence to shift from accommodation to vigilance with Turkey, scrutinizing its role in keeping regional stability and participation in the global security burden sharing, and its status as a legitimate Western partner. Until it changes its course, Ankara has now established itself as a strategic competitor, rather than a partner, to the US international security interests. – National Interest
Henry Tugendhat writes: Ultimately, the space race has become wider and deeper than it was in the twentieth century. More countries have higher aspirations, and more suppliers are willing to share technologies to foster collaboration and growth. China understands that deepening ties helps fuel its satellite industry’s rise; the United States should too. And the Middle East is key to both. – Washington Institute
China
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he expects to reach a fair trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping and downplayed risks of a clash over the issue of Taiwan, even as his top trade negotiator accused Beijing of engaging in “economic coercion.” – Reuters
China is more interested in expansionism than solving its own pressing economic and social issues, and Taiwan is determined to defend itself from Chinese aggression, the island’s top security official said on Tuesday. – Reuters
China accused Britain on Monday of lacking “credibility and ethics” after the UK government postponed a decision on whether to approve Beijing’s plan to build a new embassy in London. – Reuters
China’s exports of rare earth magnets fell in September, reigniting fears that the world’s top supplier could wield its dominance over a component key for U.S. defence firms and makers of items from cars to smartphones as leverage in trade talks. – Reuters
President Donald Trump listed rare earths, fentanyl, soybeans and Taiwan as the US’s top issues with China, underlining the divisive topics the two sides plan to tackle at the negotiating table as a fragile trade truce nears its expiration. – Bloomberg
Orville Schell: Yet Xi’s declarations were bereft of any suggestion he’d ever be ready to honestly reckon with the CCP’s ruinous past. Therein lies the main obstacle to China ever becoming a truly respectable great power. If Xi were to confront history, he would have to demolish the party’s pretense that the Chinese Communist Revolution was largely a benign, productive force. So far, nothing suggests he has sufficient dedication to historical accuracy to do that. But future generations in China, those not bound by the same baggage as the Xi family, may someday find their voice and want to overturn Mao’s old mendacious order. If they do, they may ironically find it helpful to consider one of Mao’s most iconic slogans: “Without destruction, there can be no construction.” – Foreign Affairs
South Asia
India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu group once banned following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu nationalist, is stepping out of the shadows and flexing its power. – Wall Street Journal
A ceasefire agreement between Islamabad and Kabul rests on the ruling Afghan Taliban’s ability to rein in militants attacking Pakistan across their shared border, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters on Monday, underscoring the fragility of the accord. – Reuters
Walter Russell Mead writes: But in the emerging cold war with China, Pakistan has chosen Beijing. It has a troubling record of supporting illegal nuclear proliferation, and its hands are far from clean when it comes to supporting terrorism. This isn’t a country likely to attract much long-term love from Mr. Trump. An improved U.S.-India relationship would be one of the president’s most important accomplishments. Failure would be an indelible blot on his record and vastly complicate life for his successors. Let’s all hope Mr. Trump finds a way. – Wall Street Journal
Sumit Ganguly writes: There are a few reasons to suggest that the current thaw in U.S.-Pakistan relations will be ephemeral. First, Pakistan will not walk away from its close ally China just because of the Trump administration’s recent moves, and China remains the principal strategic competitor of the United States in Asia and beyond. Second, as experience has shown, Pakistan is far from a wholly reliable counterterrorism partner. – Foreign Policy
Asia
Australia’s defense department said on Monday that a Chinese fighter jet released flares dangerously close to an Australian Air Force aircraft that was conducting patrols over the South China Sea. – New York Times
Sanae Takaichi, a firebrand nationalist and security hawk, was chosen as prime minister of Japan on Tuesday, becoming the nation’s first female head of government during an unusually rocky time in Japanese politics. – Washington Post
South Korea is stepping up its security measures in the southeastern city of Gyeongju, which hosts the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit of 21 member economies next week, with large-scale field exercises held and higher terrorism-alert levels imposed. – Reuters
Japan’s Trade Minister Yoji Muto said on Tuesday that the country will act appropriately based on its national interest, while maintaining close coordination with the international community, when asked about Russian energy imports. – Reuters
Tech powerhouse Taiwan, whose capital Taipei is only a two-hour flight from Manila, is home to more than 150,000 Filipino migrant workers. They mostly work in factories and as domestic helpers, caring for the young and the elderly, taking on jobs many Taiwanese do not want to do on an island with a declining birth rate. – Reuters
Police arrested the mayor of Armenia’s second-largest city on bribery charges on Monday, hauling him out of his office while crowds protested outside, as authorities crack down on government critics before an election next year. – Reuters
Indonesian students protested in Jakarta on Monday as President Prabowo Subianto completed a year in office, two months after violent demonstrations nationwide, with one expert faulting the government on grounds of openness and public participation. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed on Monday to ensure a steady supply of critical minerals and rare earths, as the United States moves to reduce its reliance on Chinese supply. – Reuters
President Donald Trump is expected to leave for Asia at the end of the week, betting that an around-the-world journey will help him untangle big issues that he can’t afford to get wrong. – Associated Press
Myanmar’s military has shut down a major online scam operation near the border with Thailand, detaining more than 2,000 people and seizing dozens of Starlink satellite internet terminals, state media reported Monday. – Associated Press
President Donald Trump on Monday voiced support for the AUKUS security pact that would sell Virginia-class submarines to Canberra. – USNI News
Christopher Vassallo writes: In short, 2025 has seen a range of positive changes in the US-Japan military alliance: the concrete commitment of hundreds of billions in Japanese capital to expand American industrial capacity, coupled with the finer tuning of American and Japanese military capabilities in theater. The result is the quiet emergence of a new and more sustainable edifice for defense relations with Japan. “An alliance cannot be ironclad if, in reality or perception, it is seen as one-sided,” Secretary Hegseth noted in May. “That is changing.” – National Interest
Europe
The morning after thieves broke into the Louvre Museum in broad daylight, making off with its crown jewels, an embarrassed nation is asking itself a question: How could France let this happen? – Wall Street Journal
Shares in German arms maker Rheinmetall traded sharply higher Monday after the group’s joint venture received an order worth billions of euros, a fresh sign of growing demand for defense products in Europe. – Wall Street Journal
Leaders of European nations, including Britain, France, Germany, Ukraine, and the European Union on Tuesday issued a joint statement setting out support for Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the fighting there. – Reuters
Crime gangs around Europe are increasingly robbing valuable jewels and gold from cash-needy museums like the Louvre, but while law enforcement often catches the thieves, they struggle to recover the priceless goods, police and art experts say. – Reuters
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy left his home in Paris hand in hand with his wife Carla Bruni on Tuesday morning to go to the capital’s La Sante prison to start a five-year prison term. – Reuters
France ordered a security review at the Louvre and checks at other cultural sites on Monday while a hunt was underway for thieves who lifted priceless crown jewels in an audacious daylight heist at the world’s most popular museum. – Reuters
Romania’s top court struck down on Monday a government plan to raise the retirement age for judges and prosecutors and cap their pensions, pressuring the months-old broad ruling coalition as it tries to curb the EU’s biggest budget deficit. – Reuters
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday Polish services detained eight people in various parts of the country in recent days, suspected of preparing acts of sabotage. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will attend a meeting of Ukraine’s allies known as the “coalition of the willing” in London on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said, as Kyiv tries to bolster support in its war against Russia. – Reuters
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is struggling to push through two key policy proposals on pensions and military service, in a setback fuelling concerns that some of the political instability seen in France could soon echo in Europe’s largest economy. – Reuters
Britain is drafting new powers to allow troops to shoot down unidentified drones threatening its military bases, defence minister John Healey will announce on Monday. – Reuters
EU energy ministers on Monday backed a proposal to phase out Russian oil and gas imports to the bloc by January 2028, the Council of the European Union said. – Reuters
King Charles visited a synagogue in northern England on Monday where two Jewish worshippers were killed earlier this month during an attack by a man who told police he was acting for Islamic State. – Reuters
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Monday they would no longer investigate what are known as “non-crime hate incidents”, allowing officers to focus on criminal cases instead of policing “toxic culture war debates”. – Reuters
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday that it was “not nice” that Russian President Vladimir Putin might travel to EU member Hungary for talks on the war in Ukraine. – Reuters
The closer a country lies to Russia, the greater the chance that its people see the Kremlin as a top threat facing Europe — but that doesn’t mean the EU is viewed as a savior. – Politico
Robert Zaretsky: The Louvre heist marks a moment that makes clear that the days of a president who would be neither king nor emperor, but instead Jupiter, are also numbered. If Macron needed a reminder, political opponents were more than happy to oblige, with the president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, declaring that the theft represented “an unbearable humiliation for our country.” One, presumably, he would never allow once he becomes prime minister under a Marine Le Pen presidency. As polls track the seemingly irresistible rise of this xenophobic and autocratic party, France may well be in store for a less than rocambolesque future. – Washington Post
Martin Ivens writes: The foreign policy logic of Powell and those he serves needs contesting in the public sphere. The government, like the national security adviser himself, is shy about defending its China policy in public. Consequently, ministers are suspected of putting commerce before security — and the rule of law. And once more, the PM has absented himself from the field of battle. – Bloomberg
Lyn Julius writes: In Britain today, antisemitic marches are permitted to spread hate while the police stand by or arrest the few counter-protesters. Although Palestine Action, with its record of vandalism, is proscribed, those who shout for “intifada” or wave the Hezbollah flag are frequently let off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.On the other hand, carrying an Israeli flag can be construed as a provocation. The road from moral equivalence and appeasement leads to the death of Jews, as we witnessed at Manchester’s Heaton Park synagogue on Yom Kippur this month. Have the British learned nothing since the 1940s? – Jerusalem Post
Edward Lucas writes: Yet as Germany girds its loins, Britain’s trousers are around its ankles. A high-profile spy trial has collapsed amid allegations of political interference. The government, it seems, refused to give prosecutors the clear statement they needed that China was a threat to national security. The spy-catchers who built the case (which involves alleged snooping on Parliament) are rightly furious, but helpless. Now they know how their German colleagues have felt for many years. How long before Germans joke that if you want Xi Jinping to know something, tell it in strict secrecy to the Brits? – Center for European Policy Analysis
Africa
Madagascar’s coup leader Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who seized power this month, named businessman and consultant Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo as the island nation’s new prime minister on Monday. – Reuters
Residents of Sudan’s besieged city of al-Fashir have been taking refuge in underground bunkers to try to protect themselves from drones and shells after intensifying attacks on displacement shelters, clinics and mosques. – Reuters
The Democratic Alliance, the second-biggest party in South Africa’s coalition government, wants to axe race-based laws aimed at boosting Black jobs in an economy still dominated by white people three decades after the end of apartheid. – Reuters
In a town in Ivory Coast torn apart by election violence and mass killings more than a decade ago, peace activists say they have hit on a way to help avoid a repeat of the bloodshed – “reconciliation marriages” between rival groups. – Reuters
Demonstrations for the release of a separatist leader in Nigeria’s capital city turned violent on Monday as police fired tear gas and arrested dozens of protesters, as well as a journalist with French news agency Agence France-Presse, or AFP, who was released shortly afterwards. – Associated Press
An Ivorian soldier was killed days before Oct. 25 elections, when his unit came under attack by unknown gunmen during a patrol early Monday. – Bloomberg
The Americas
A group of banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs is struggling to put together a $20 billion loan to Argentina without leaving themselves too exposed to the financially distressed South American country, people familiar with the matter said. – Wall Street Journal
For more than a decade in the Senate, Marco Rubio sought the ouster of Venezuela’s autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro. Now as President Trump’s national security adviser, Rubio is finally getting his chance to squeeze the strongman. – Wall Street Journal
Colombia said on Monday it has recalled its ambassador from Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would raise tariffs on the South American nation and stop all payments to it, intensifying a feud stemming from U.S. military strikes on vessels allegedly transporting drugs. – Reuters
Ecuador’s prosecutor’s office said on Monday it would not detain the Ecuadorean survivor of a U.S. military strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean. – Reuters
The Trump administration may impose tariffs of up to 100% on Nicaraguan goods after finding that Nicaragua’s labor and human rights policies are unreasonable and impeding U.S. commerce, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said on Monday. – Reuters
Argentina’s central bank said on Monday it signed a $20 billion exchange-rate stabilization agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department, six days ahead of a key midterm election. – Reuters
An unprecedented order by the US Treasury to cut off three Mexican financial firms for allegedly helping drug cartels launder funds takes effect Monday. But its impact has already swept through the country’s banking industry. – Bloomberg
United States
Two more people have been arrested for the alleged assault of a former DOGE staff member in August that prompted U.S. President Donald Trump’s federal crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital, authorities said on Monday. – Reuters
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Monday Washington will respond “appropriately to China’s targeting of critical industrial sectors for dominance,” but did not lay out specific follow up steps in his statement. – Reuters
Small businesses challenging many of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs urged the US Supreme Court to affirm lower court rulings that the import levies amount to a massive illegal tax on American companies. – Bloomberg
Cybersecurity
A glitch with an obscure Amazon database disrupted life for millions of people across the U.S. as core internet services failed to function for an array of companies. – Wall Street Journal
Across Chile, political debates have flared over artificial intelligence. That has turned this arid South American nation of 20 million people — which is rarely at the center of global tech debates — into a vivid example of a country trying to manage the trade-offs in the A.I. race. – New York Times
A more than year-long digital intrusion into cybersecurity company publicized last week and blamed on Chinese spies, has defenders across the industry hunting for signs of compromise among the many corporate networks that use its products. – Reuters
A federal judge on Friday ordered a major commercial spyware company to not target Meta’s WhatsApp messaging platform, which the firm had previously told the court could force it to shut down operations. – The Record
Defense
The U.S. Marines are investigating the firing of live artillery over a major California highway during a ceremony attended by Vice President JD Vance in which one shell blew up in the air and rained shrapnel onto police vehicles parked nearby, officials said on Monday. – Reuters
Civilian special agents of the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command will receive enhanced authorities to conduct searches, execute warrants and make arrests outside of military bases, Army counterintelligence leaders announced to members of the media during an Oct. 15 roundtable at the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. – Defense News
As drones have grown into a massive threat, so has the need for counter-drone defenses. But this runs into the perennial question of generalists versus specialists. Should counter-drone, or C-UAS, be a skill taught across the U.S. Army, with every soldier a potential asset for air defense? Or should C-UAS be assigned to highly trained specialists? – Defense News