National security adviser John Bolton will hold a summit with his Russian and Israeli counterparts in Jerusalem in June, the White House announced today.
Why it matters: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned the summit in his speech tonight in which he acknowledged his failure to form a new governing coalition. With Israel now set for new elections in September, Netanyahu used the White House statement as the beginning of his campaign. He said he was able to get Trump and Putin to sign on to an "unprecedented" summit.
Less than two months after his biggest-ever electoral victory, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed in a desperate bid to form a new government. The Knesset has now voted to hold a new election on Sept. 17.
Why it matters: This is a huge political defeat for Netanyahu. It's the first time since the founding of Israel that a prime minister has missed the deadline to form a coalition after winning an election. Netanyahu opted for new elections before Israel's president offered one of Netanyahu's political rivals an opportunity to form a government.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told KQED News on Wednesday that Facebook's resistance to remove a doctored video of her serves as evidence that the company's leaders were "willing enablers" of Russian interference.
"I think they have proven — by not taking down something they know is false — that they were willing enablers of the Russian interference in our election."
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday that North Korea's recent missiles test violated a United Nations Security Council ban, contradicting claims by President Trump, who tweeted last weekend that the tests "disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me," CNN reports.
Why it matters: Shanahan is the second top national security official in the Trump administration to break with the president over the seriousness of North Korea's missile tests. Earlier this week, national security adviser John Bolton also spoke out against the tests, prompting North Korea to accuse him of being a "war monger."
The head of the Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity division described a popular class of anonymizing tools known as VPNs — particularly ones made in authoritarian countries — as a potential threat to data security and national security in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that was shared with Cyberscoop.
Why it matters: The services disguise the internet address and browsing habits of their clients from websites and eavesdroppers, but the VPNs themselves are potentially aware of every move a client makes online and every password they enter, making less-scrupulous VPNs an ideal espionage tool.
Former U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has been ordered to appear in court over allegations that he lied when he said the U.K. gave the European Union £350 million per week during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, the BBC reports.
Why it matters: The summons does not provide great optics for Johnson, who is a frontrunner to replace Theresa May as leader of the Conservative Party and become the country's next prime minister.
White House national security adviser John Bolton blamed Iran Wednesday for attacks on oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates this month and accused Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons, AP reports.
Details: Bolton told reporters in Abu Dhabi there’s "no reason" for Iran to back out of the nuclear deal and seek higher enrichment unless it is "to reduce the breakout time to produce nuclear weapons," per AP.
Russia has criticized an upcoming conference in Bahrain at which the Trump administration will launch the economic part of its Middle East peace plan.
Context: The Foreign Ministry in Moscow claims the conference is aimed at "imposing an alternative vision" for the peace process, but will fail like the U.S.-led anti-Iran conference in Warsaw last February. China and Russia notified the Palestinians several days ago they would boycott the conference.
President Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner, the head of the White House's Israeli-Palestinian peace team, traveled to the Middle East on Monday night on a visit to Morocco, Jordan and Israel, a senior White House official told me.
Why it matters: Kushner will arrive in Israel on Thursday, meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the tail end of a coalition crisis that could lead to new elections. Netanyahu's deadline for forming a new government is set to expire on Wednesday night, and new elections in Israel could be yet another hurdle for the Trump administration's peace plan.
Brexit uncertainty has helped New York City overtake London to be regarded as the world’s preeminent financial center, a survey of financial executives by Duff & Phelps published Tuesday shows.
By the numbers: New York is now seen as the world’s leading financial center by just over half of the 183 executives surveyed for the annual Global Regulatory Outlook — a 10% rise from 2018. Only 36% see London as the top center, down 17% from last year.
