Iran has confirmed it is holding U.S. Navy veteran Michael White, AP reports. White has been held since July on unknown charges. He had been to the country several times to visit his Iranian girlfriend, his family told the New York Times.
Why it matters: White is the first American known to have been detained by Iran since President Trump took office, according to AP. Trump has taken a hardline stance against Iran and sharply criticized former President Obama for a "weak" response to the detention of U.S. sailors in 2016. As AP notes, "Iran in the past has used its detention of Westerners and dual nationals as leverage in negotiations."
Responding to demands from seven House committee chairs, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin will brief House lawmakers in a classified setting Thursday about why the administration has elected to lift sanctions on companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, Politico reports.
Why it matters: Deripaska, an aluminum magnate with close ties to the Kremlin, previously employed President Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort. The Washington Post has reported that Manafort — who was at one point $10 million in debt to the Russian oligarch — offered Deripaska “private briefings” at the height of the 2016 presidential campaign.
British Prime Minister Theresa May lost a key vote in Parliament on Wednesday, forcing her to offer a Brexit "plan B" within three days should the deal she secured with the EU fail in Parliament next week, per the BBC.
Background: May's deal looked set to be voted down last month, but she postponed the vote, hoping that fears of a potentially catastrophic "no deal" Brexit would rally support for her unpopular plan. Both the opposition Labour Party and a portion of her Conservative Party are demanding that she rule out the possibility of "no deal," and they teamed up to defeat her today. Labour says it will table a motion of no confidence in May's government if she loses next week's vote.
Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab was instrumental in helping capture Hal Martin, a former intelligence subcontractor currently on trial for hoarding classified data at his home, reports Kim Zetter at Politico.
Why it matters: It's a sympathetic twist for beleaguered Kaspersky Lab. U.S. lawmakers regularly accuse the antivirus firm of assisting Russian spies stealing classified intelligence data, and the Department of Homeland Security and Congress separately banned Kaspersky products from federal systems for security concerns.
Yale Environment 360 has a cautionary look at the emissions stakes of China's Belt & Road initiative (BRI), the massive collection of infrastructure projects that spans several continents.
Why it matters: The multi-decade project formally launched in 2013 aims to project China's economic interests through a network of infrastructure projects that include shipping ports, railways and highways, Isabel Hilton, writing for Yale Environment 360, argues: "BRI has the potential to transform economies in China’s partner countries. Yet it could also tip the world into catastrophic climate change."
Nadav Argaman, director of Israel's Shin Bet domestic security and intelligence service, has said there's a high probability a foreign power will try to meddle in Israel's April 9 elections in a similar manner to Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
Details: Speaking yesterday at Tel Aviv University, Argaman said Shin Bet is preparing for meddling attempts by a foreign superpower, potentially through social media or cyberattacks. He said he doesn't know what goal would be served by such a foreign intervention.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has accused President Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort of lying about sharing polling data related to the 2016 presidential campaign and discussing a secret Ukrainian peace plan with suspected Russian intelligence operative Konstantin Kilimnik, according to a new court filing.
The big picture: The filing by Manafort's defense attorneys is in response to Mueller's allegation in November that Manafort violated the terms of his plea deal by lying to investigators. However, Manafort's attorneys failed to properly redact some information in the document, revealing some specifics regarding Mueller's allegations against Manafort.
President Trump’s sudden announcement that the U.S. would pull out of Syria stunned the key players in the conflict, prompted America’s panicked Kurdish allies to turn to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and led to the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Between the lines: Nearly three weeks later, the withdrawal seems to be getting less imminent by the day.
