Axios

After months of review by the State Department and the White House, President Trump has decided to cut $200 million in civilian aid to the Palestinian Authority and for projects in the West Bank and Gaza, the State Department said in a statement. 

Why it matters: The decision comes 9 months after President Trump's Jerusalem announcement, which prompted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to cut all ties with the White House. Those two developments created huge difficulties for the Trump administration to push forward with it's peace plan, which the White House is still debating when to launch. The aid cut also comes as Egypt and the U.N. are working on a stabilization deal for Gaza which will include a major push for humanitarian aid and reconstruction for the strip. 

A group of users began alerting Reddit to a rash of suspicious news postings a year before Facebook and other tech platforms identified them this week as an Iranian disinformation campaign, NBC News' Ben Collins reports. The users tied the postings to Iran using publicly available domain registration information.

Why it matters: Tech platforms often ask for users' help to flag inappropriate, spammy, or suspicious content. In this case, the users complain that they couldn't get Reddit administrators to respond or act.

Informants close to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin who played a vital role in helping U.S. intelligence agencies warn the public of Russian meddling in the 2016 election have now gone silent, seemingly out of fear for their lives and personal safety, the New York Times reports.

Why it matters: The radio silence has left the CIA and other intelligence agencies with less information on what Putin’s plans could be for midterm elections this fall. Officials told the Times they don’t believe their sources have been compromised or killed, but the news comes after two former spies were poisoned in the U.K. presumably by Russia, U.S. intel agents were expelled from the country, and several political campaigns and tech companies have reported political hacking attempts from overseas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted today in a briefing to reporters in Lithuania that he doesn't think President Trump should put his peace plan forward at the current time.

What they're saying: Netanyahu said he "sees no urgency" and that the Trump administration is "not blind" about the current situation, adding: "It is his thing if he wants to try and promote it. From time to time he says something about this and [the peace plan] might come... the Americans are thinking about it... when they propose it we will see."

President Trump has directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel his upcoming trip to North Korea, saying the country was not "making sufficient progress with respect to denuclearization."

Why it matters: Despite the pledge North Korea made at the summit in Singapore in June to commit to denuclearization, the Kim regime has yet to take any significant steps toward doing so.

Researchers at Secureworks discovered a vast network of phishing sites designed to gain login credentials to universities that appear to be connected with the same Iranian group recently indicted by the U.S. Justice Department over stealing intellectual property and research.

Why it matters: Intellectual property and research are attractive targets for Iran, which has lost access to much of the U.S. and world markets due to sanctions.

With the Brexit deadline approaching and breakthroughs proving elusive, U.K. officials today released a contingency plan for crashing out of Europe without an exit deal.

Between the lines: The immediate consequences of a "no-deal Brexit" include possible shortages of medicine and benefits losses for British pensioners living in Europe. A bad breakup between the world's 5th largest economy and a bloc that accounts for nearly half its trade would also have long-lasting consequences that stretch across the continent and beyond.

Dominic Raab, the U.K.'s Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, today outlined steps the country should take in the event that no Brexit deal is reached with the EU.

Why it matters: Raab said 80% of the withdrawal treaty has been negotiated, and that while he hopes and expects the rest of the sticking points to be smoothed over by year's end, the British government has "a duty to plan for every eventuality." Chief among the consequences of a no deal Brexit would be the potential for shortages of medicine and medical devices.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Thursday that he'll be traveling to North Korea next week along with Stephen Biegun, whom he named as special representative to the regime. Biegun served on George W. Bush's National Security Council, and is retiring as an executive at Ford Motor Company at the end of this month.

Why it matters: North Korea has thus far taken no significant steps toward denuclearization since the summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un in June. Pompeo's last visit was a rocky one, but this time might have to go better in order to convince the Trump administration Kim is serious about the process.

Alibaba's stock jumped about 3% in pre-market trading after the Chinese e-commerce giant beat analysts' expectations in its latest earnings report with a 61% jump in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.

The big picture: Alibaba's market boost comes as Chinese tech stocks are getting clobbered across the board. Social media giant Tencent and Alibaba's homegrown e-commerce rival, JD.com, both saw share prices fall after narrowly missing earnings expectations. And Baidu's stock is suffering in part due to rumblings that Google may be trying to get back into the Chinese market.

A poll of U.K. executives revealed that — aside from Brexit — the prospect of a Labour Party government led by Jeremy Corbyn is considered the biggest threat facing British businesses in the coming months, reports the Financial Times.

The big picture: The 39% of executives that named a Labour government as one of the three most pressing challenges — compared to 51% for Brexit — did so because of Corbyn's pledges to "nationalize the rail, water and postal industries, sharply increase corporation tax and taxes on the most wealthy, and end private finance initiative contracts with the state."