President Trump described China's largest-ever military parade marking the end of World War II as a "beautiful ceremony" on Thursday, but he said the U.S. should have gotten a mention.
The big picture: Trump made the comments to reporters hours after suggesting that China's Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong-un were conspiring against the U.S. while attending the Beijing event.
The Trump administration can't use a centuries-old wartime law to quickly deport Venezuelans it alleges are suspected gang members, a federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision on Tuesday night.
The big picture: The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling it would grant a preliminary injunction "to prevent removal because we find no invasion or predatory incursion" had occurred.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has told the Trump administration that Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank would harm the Abraham Accords and undermine the president's hopes of expanding them, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.
Why it matters: Israel is considering annexing large portions of the West Bank later this month in response to the recognition of a Palestinian state by several western countries. President Trump is likely the only foreign player who could stop it. The UAE message is that if he doesn't, a key aspect of his foreign policy legacy could unravel.
There may be less than meets the eye with Gazprom's announcement Tuesday of a major, binding deal to build a massive Russia-to-China natural gas pipeline.
Why it matters: The agreement — if borne out — is a diplomatic win for Moscow after years of stalled talks over the Power of Siberia 2 project.
The tectonic plates of global power are shifting ever faster thanks to President Trump, and images beamed from China around the world this week provide one vision of where they will settle.
The big picture: The leaders of China, Russia and North Korea strode out together overnight in Beijing to attend a massive military parade — and to send a message to Washington.
China's leader Xi Jinping hosted Russia's Vladimir Putin, North Korea's Kim Jong-un and dozens of other leaders at the country's biggest-ever military parade on Wednesday morning local time.
The big picture: President Trump in D.C. suggested the trio may be conspiring against the U.S. during the event marking 80 years since Japan's formal surrender that ended World War II.
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, arrived in Beijing via his armored train on Tuesday to attend China's largest-ever military parade with his Chinese and Russian counterparts.
Why it matters: Chinese leader Xi Jinping is putting on a show of force with Wednesday's event commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and also with his recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Tianjin, China — during which he took thinly veiled swipes at President Trump's tariffs.
U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Axios he's concerned there will be an economic collapse in the West Bank that could lead to violent escalation.
What he's saying: "If the Palestinian economy were to completely collapse, it won't be a winning deal for anyone. It would lead to an escalation and further desperation. Desperate people do desperate things," Huckabee said in an interview on Friday.
The first strike of President Trump's militarized drug war took place on Tuesday with what the Pentagon called a "precision strike against a drug vessel operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization."
Trump said 11 members of the Tren de Aragua cartel had been killed while transporting drugs. He shared what appeared to be video of an aerial attack on a speedboat.
Why it matters: Trump has ordered a flotilla of ships off Venezuela's shores, ostensibly to stop drugs but also in hopes of sparking regime change, as Axios reported last week.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro faces a potentially lengthy sentence over his alleged involvement in a scheme to overturn his 2022 election loss, an accusation he denies.
The big picture: Brazil's Federal Supreme Court begins the latest phase of the trial beneath the shadow of President Trump's threats to impose sweeping tariffs on Brazilian goods unless the country drops the criminal charges against his ally.
Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging him to reconsider the decision to bar Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from the UN General Assembly, arguing it was made on false pretenses, according to a copy of the letter seen by Axios.
Why it matters: The Trump administration's decision sets up a major diplomatic showdown at the UN, where several western countries will announce they're recognizing a Palestinian state at a gathering Palestinian leaders won't even be allowed to attend.
Facing tariffs and insults from President Trump, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a far friendlier interaction on Monday with his Russian and Chinese counterparts during his first visit to China in seven years.
The big picture: Successive U.S. presidents have aggressively courted India as a counterweight to China. Trump is actively trying to drive a wedge between India and Russia while seeking to gradually peel Russia away from China. So the image of all three leaders literally holding hands is, at the very least, a symbolic blow.
