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9 direct mentions across 9 briefings, with 13 linked developments.
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According to The New York Times, interviews indicating that some Iranians voluntarily mourned former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and blamed the United States and Israel for worsening their lives. Questions remain about the interview conditions and use of government-provided translators.
Unverified development · updated through
According to The New York Times, interviews indicating that some Iranians voluntarily mourned former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and blamed the United States and Israel for worsening their lives. Questions remain about the interview conditions and use of government-provided translators.
Open source reportGeography
Marker precision is disclosed on selection. Country and regional centroids show geographic scope, not an exact incident site.
Ali Khamenei dossier
11 mapped developments across 1 map positions. Centroid markers show geographic scope, not an exact incident site.
Iran
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s promise of no governmental disruption; clerical authorities will ensure Raisi’s successor is another conservative hardliner.
Approximate map position: country centroid. The extracted place did not have provider-resolved coordinates.
Chronology
Off Leash update 9 July 2026 IRAN •The U.S. and Iran traded strikes for a second day. The U.S. has struck at least 170 military targets in Iran in the latest flare-up, while Iran said it targeted U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. •Pres. Trump declared the temporary ceasefire "over," but a return to full-scale conflict is probably the worst of his all-bad options. •He could choose peace, but any ceasefire deal Iran would agree to would be on its terms, leaving Trump with nothing to show for the estimated $113 billion that U.S. taxpayers have spent on the war so far. Trump is more likely to choose an awkward middle option, with a fragile peace punctuated by occasional skirmishes like this week's. •Iran's leaders are conflicted, too. Relative moderates like Pres. Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi favor negotiating peace, but hardliners are blocking their path. This week, supporters of a hardline faction physically attacked Pezeshkian and Araghchi while shouting "death to the appeasers." •Separately, the NYT reported that the masses mourning former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were not entirely orchestrated by the government. Many Iranians the visiting journalists interviewed "had come voluntarily to express their grief and, above all, their defiance," and blamed the U.S. and Israel - as opposed to their own repressive leaders - for a war that has made their lives harder. [At least that's what the reporters heard from the Iranians they were allowed to interview through government-provided translators.] UKRAINE •After meeting Pres. Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey, Pres. Trump announced that he'd agreed to let Ukraine make its own Patriot missiles. That would make Ukraine the third country - after Germany and Japan - licensed to make Patriots outside the U.S. [Germany is actively producing them; Japan has yet to exercise its license.] •Bloomberg pointed out that it will still take years - and lots of help from one of the two U.S. contractors that make Patriots, RTX and Lockheed Martin - for Ukraine to get a production line up and running. •Lockheed Martin estimates that it will take four years to triple its Patriot production capacity in the U.S., and construction time is likely to stretch far longer under Russian fire in Ukraine. That's why some experts suggested building Ukraine's Patriot factory under NATO's security shield in Poland instead. TRADE •Speaking at the NATO summit in Turkey, Pres. Trump threatened to cut off trade with Spain and its 50 million "hopeless, bad people." •Trump was overall very pleased with the NATO summit and the "tremendous love" he felt there, but he's mad at Spain's leaders for repeatedly refusing his demands to raise military spending and - more recently - refusing to let the U.S. use Spain's bases to support Trump's war in Iran. •It will be hard for the U.S. to make good on Trump's threat. First, the European Union negotiates trade matters as a bloc, and the entire bloc could retaliate against trade actions targeting one of its members. In addition, the U.S. sells more to Spain than it buys from it, so severing trade ties would harm U.S. exporters more than Spanish ones.
Open source reportOff Leash update 6 July 2026 COMING UP THIS WEEK •The Philippine Senate began an impeachment trial for Vice President Sara Duterte, who stands accused of corruption and making public threats against President Bongbong Marcos after the once-allied running mates bitterly fell out. Duterte insists the charges are politically motivated. •Iran is in the middle of a six-day, two-country funeral for slain former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The events conclude on Thursday, when Khamenei will be buried in his northeastern hometown of Mashad. •Turkey will host a NATO summit tomorrow and Wednesday. Pres. Trump plans to attend, and will likely have some gripes to express: last week he complained that it was "ridiculous" for the U.S. to continue its "one-sided" relationship with NATO. •The Paris Court of Appeal will rule on French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's appeal to overturn her conviction for misusing European funds. If the court overturns her conviction and resulting ban on holding public office, then she'll be the National Rally (RN) party's candidate in next year's presidential poll. If the court upholds her conviction, Jordan Bardella will represent the RN. •The 139th Wimbledon Championships conclude with the men's final on Sunday. COMMODITY AND COIN MARKET PRICES •Aluminum: $3,091/ton •Antimony (global avg.): $35,245/ton •Bitcoin: $62,747 •Cobalt: $/ton •Copper: $13,367/ton •Ethereum: $1,762 •Gold: $4,143/toz •Lead: $1,892/ton •Natural Gas (Nymex): $3.23/MMbtu •WTI Crude Oil (Nymex): $68.33/barrel •Zinc: $3,541/ton IRAN •Hundreds of thousands of Iranians turned out to mourn Iran's late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the first days of his funeral. •It's not that Khamenei was wildly popular - in fact, he was widely disliked by the end of his reign, as Iranians increasingly blamed him for their country's economic woes and resented the brutal crackdowns his repressive security services inflicted on those who dared to criticize. •Rather, the government engineered high turnout by declaring national holidays and bribing attendees with freebies. •Khamenei's son and successor, Mojtaba, was conspicuously absent as his three brothers prayed beside their father's coffin. Mojtaba hasn't been seen in public since the Feb. 28, 2026 strike that killed his father - and reportedly maimed him. CHINA •China tested a long-range, submarine-launched ballistic missile with a "mock warhead" today - its first such test in nearly two years. •Beijing insisted the launch was just part of "routine" training and "not directed against any specific country or target," but its timing suggests it was a reaction to Australia signing a new mutual defense treaty with Fiji just hours prior. •Australia's foreign minister chastised Beijing for the test, which she called "destabilizing to the region." UKRAINE •Presidents Trump and Zelensky will meet on the sidelines of this week's NATO summit to capitalize on new momentum towards a peace deal. •After the leaders spoke by phone over the weekend, Zelensky optimistically declared: "There is a real prospect to put an end to this war, and America's resolve is decisive." We shall see. VENEZUELA •Venezuela has now tallied 3,342 deaths from twin earthquakes on June 24. Thousands are still missing, and residents are seething at the government over its slow and flaccid response to the disaster. •According to a new NYT report, residents of shoddily-built public housing are also livid with the state for ignoring - and even suppressing - years of warnings that their homes would crumble in a tremor. Last month, many did just that.
Open source reportOff Leash update 2 July 2026 UKRAINE •The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S.-based thinktank, published a new analysis estimating casualties from Russia's nearly four-and-a-half years of war in Ukraine. •CSIS estimates that Ukraine has suffered 525,000 to 625,000 losses, including 125,000 to 150,000 deaths, while Russia has lost 1.4 million troops, including 450,000 killed in action (which CSIS notes is "more than four times greater than all U.S. fatalities in all wars combined since World War II, and more than nine times greater than all Soviet and Russian fatalities in all wars combined since World War II"). •CSIS also points out that the relative casualty rates have shifted dramatically in Ukraine's favor lately. While Russia lost two to three soldiers for every Ukrainian casualty for much of the war, this year it has suffered eight casualties for every one it inflicted on Ukraine. CSIS attributes the shift to Ukraine's intensified use of advanced drones, including some with AI-enabled targeting. IRAN •Qatar reported "positive progress" in indirect talks it mediated between the U.S. and Iran, but it sounds like all they really agreed on was to keep talking about the issues they still disagree on, like nuclear restrictions on Iran. •Talks are now on hold until after Iran concludes funeral ceremonies for former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike on February 28. •Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf - Iran's parliament speaker and lead negotiator - called for a large turnout for Khamenei's funeral spectacle "so the world knows that the noble and honorable nation of Iran will not stay silent in the face of oppression and arrogance." He also called on the U.S. and Israel to "to avoid any miscalculations" during the processions. LIBYA •U.S. State Department officials hosted visitors from two of Libya's rival governments last week: Lt. Gen. Saddam Haftar of the eastern Libyan National Army (LNA) met with SecState Rubio, and the Deputy Defense Minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) met Deputy SecState Landau (along with Pres. Trump's Special Advisor, Massad Boulos, and AFRICOM Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Brennan). •The Atlantic Council pointed out the optics of giving the leader of an armed faction an audience with the Secretary of State but snubbing the long over stayed UN anointed representative of an "interim government." •Moreover, The Atlantic Council suggests that entertaining the LNA's claims to power "formaliz[es] the families and patronage networks that already dominate" Libyan politics and "turns managed instability into a formal settlement." TRADE •Yesterday was the deadline to renew the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trilateral trade agreement, and - as anticipated - the U.S. opted not to lock in another 16-year term. Instead, the three neighbors will review the deal annually, giving them an opportunity to renegotiate key parts of the pact. •Pres. Trump has turned particularly critical of the deal, which he signed during his first term and once called "the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law." He has since taken a tougher stance on trade and now hopes to squeeze more concessions from Canada and Mexico to close the U.S. trade deficit with its neighbors.
Open source reportOff Leash update 19 June IRAN •Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei bluntly rejected Pres. Trump's call for "unconditional surrender," and instead threatened "irreparable" harm to the U.S. if it joins the fray. Despite Khamenei's fiery rhetoric, Iran's cooler-headed diplomats still insist that Tehran remains open to negotiations with the U.S. •Trump remained vague about whether the U.S. would, indeed, accede to Israel's request to join its side of the conflict, leaving the door open to negotiations: "I like to make a final decision one second before it’s due, you know, because things change." [The WSJ reported that Trump privately approved plans to attack Iran but is waiting to see if Iran offers to return to the nuclear negotiating table before he gives his final approval to attack.] •According to media reports, Israel particularly wants the U.S.'s help - as well as its 30,000-lb. bunker-buster bombs and B-2 bombers to drop them from - to destroy Iran's underground nuclear facility at Fordow. Israel has neither strong enough bombs nor bombers to carry them; U.S. has both within range of Iran. •Doves opposed to U.S. involvement are invoking memories of ill-fated U.S. interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan to advocate against joining. INDIA •India's Pres. Modi met new Canadian Prime Minister Carney on the sidelines of the G7 summit Carney hosted this week. •Modi and Carney agreed to restart trade talks and restore diplomatic representation and visa processing, which is a step towards repairing the damage their bilateral relationship suffered when Canada accused India's government of backing the assassination of Sikh cleric Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver two years ago. •The very next day, Canadian intelligence published a report calling India a perpetrator of foreign influence for its involvement in Najjar's assassination - and dozens of other alleged plots the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have disrupted against Sikhs in Canada. [The report seems like a compromise to Canadian Sikhs who were angry that Carney would rekindle relations with a government that violated its sovereignty to carry out assassinations; India blew off the criticism and it didn't seem to hurt fragile-but-improving bilateral relations.] DRC •Rwandan and Congolese technical teams are busy drafting a peace agreement to end fighting in eastern DRC, and Presidents Kagame and Tshisekedi are slated to sign the truce next Friday (June 27). •Prior ceasefires have fallen through quickly - some before they were even signed - but the outlook this version seems better, given new U.S. pressure to end fighting and pacify the mineral-rich region for investment.
Open source reportOff Leash update 10 March 2025 COMING UP THIS WEEK •U.S. and Ukrainian officials will meet in Saudi Arabia starting tomorrow. Pres. Zelensky is in Saudi and said he was "fully committed" to negotiating an end to the war, but he won't participate in the U.S.-Ukrainian meetings; instead, he'll meet Saudi's Crown Prince MBS for economic talks while his delegates meet U.S. SecState Rubio et al. •Greenland goes to the polls tomorrow. While the question of independence from Denmark isn't directly on the ballot, analysts will be watching results to see if Greenlanders veer towards candidates in favor of greater autonomy for their island. •China, Iran, and Russia will hold joint naval exercises in the northern Indian Ocean this week. Several countries - including Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa, and the UAE - will send observers. COMMODITY PRICES •Aluminum: $2,706/ton •Antimony (ingot min. 99.65% fob China): $25,450/ton •Cobalt: $26,960/ton •Copper: $9,614/ton •Gold: $2,901/toz •Lead: $2,019/ton •Natural Gas (Nymex): $4.60/MMbtu - a three-year high due to supply constraints and cold weather •WTI Crude Oil (Nymex): $67.06/barrel •Zinc: $2,887/ton GAZA •France, Germany, Italy, and the UK said they would support Egypt's plan for post-war Gaza; however, that plan still faces significant hurdles: the U.S. and Israel have rejected it - Israel more vehemently than the U.S. - and so far no donors have stepped up to commit the first of the $53 billion needed to fund the plan. •Optimists are hopeful for a second-phase ceasefire agreement this week. Israel sent a delegation to Qatar today "in an effort to advance the negotiations," and Hamas said it has received "positive signals" from the Egyptian and Qatari mediators it's been working with. SYRIA •An independent monitor estimated that over 1,000 people - mostly civilians - have been killed in the past week's clashes between the new government's forces and loyalists to the deposed Assad regime in Latakia. •The Assad loyalists clashing with government troops don't appear to be centrally organized or led; rather, the Institute for the Study of War suggests there are multiple small groups of loyalists each independently declaring a "united" front against the new government. •Interim president Ahmed al Sharaa appealed for calm and asked Syrians "to be reassured because the country has the fundamentals for survival." IRAN •Pres. Trump said he wrote a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, proposing a revival of nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran. •Khamenei seemed cold on the idea: he complained about "bullying governments" using talks "as a pathway to have new demands." •Pres. Pezeshkian, meanwhile, seemed more open to talks - but noted that Khamenei calls the shots: "My position has been and will remain that I believe in negotiations, but now we have to follow the parameters set by the supreme leader." UKRAINE •A group of civilian and military analysts unveiled a framework for a ceasefire in Ukraine that came out of their spring 2022 meeting in Geneva. Their proposal calls for a six-mile buffer zone along the 700-mile front lines, which would be patrolled by peacekeepers, including foreign troops (the UK and France have offered to send peacekeepers, but Russia rejected the idea). •Meanwhile, Russia is eroding Ukraine's gains in Kursk by pushing Ukrainian front lines back and cutting off supply chains to the ~10,000 Ukrainian troops in Kursk. Ukraine had hoped to use the parts of Kursk it recaptured last year as bargaining chips in a negotiated peace; Russia's recent counter-advance will leave Ukraine with less to offer in a truce. •Separately, Pres. Trump said he was "just about" ready to start sharing intelligence with Ukraine again - now that Ukraine is participating obligingly in peace talks in Saudi.
Open source reportOff Leash update 1 November Happy All Saints Day Ukraine •The Pentagon assessed that there are now 8,000 North Korean troops in Russia's Kursk region poised to cross into Ukraine. •Pres. Zelensky is frustrated that his allies have had "zero" response to the threat of North Korean boots on the ground. But he said this on South Korean TV, and may have intended it to entice South Korea to add support for Ukraine's side. •Meanwhile, U.S. diplomats are imploring their Chinese counterparts to talk North Korea into backing out of Ukraine. •That may work: U.S. analysts think China is already uncomfortable with North Korea - which has long depended on China - cozying up to Russia too, and wary that North Korea's involvement in Ukraine will draw the West into meddling in East Asian security concerns. Russia •A Russian court fined Google 20 undecillion rubles ($2.5 decillion) for removing 17 state-run propaganda channels from YouTube after Russia invaded Ukraine. •To put that number into perspective: oGoogle's fine: $2,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 oGlobal 2024 GDP forecast: $110,000,000,000,000 (1/23 quadrillionth Google's fine) o2023 Google net profit: $73,700,000,000 (1/33 quintillionth Google's fine) •For even more math fun, the fine doubles daily after the mid-2025 due date. •Given that it would take Google 33 quintillion years of profits to pay the fine at its starting level, Russia clearly doesn't expect payment any time soon: the penalty is effectively a ban on Google operations in Russia. Gaza •Several top U.S. officials are in Cairo pushing for a quick ceasefire agreement before next Tuesday's U.S. election, but Israel seems to want to wait to see who U.S. voters elect before agreeing to a deal. Hamas isn't in a rush either: it prefers to hold out for a permanent ceasefire rather than the temporary truces currently on the table. Iran •Two senior Iranian officials - IRGC deputy commander Gen. Ali Fadavi and the head of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's office - said Iran plans to respond to Israel's retaliatory strikes, renewing the tit-for-tat cycle. •Following Israel's strikes, initial remarks by Khamenei and Pres. Pezeshkian seemed to suggest Iran would let Israel have the last word. Iran may be reconsidering now that news has spread that Israel's strikes caused more damage than Iranian officials initially let on. Other News •The Botswana Democratic Party - which has governed the southern African country since independence in 1966 - lost its majority for the first time in a surprising electoral rebuke. •Voters blamed the ruling party for economic woes caused by a slowdown in the diamond market, but also criticized some party figures for mismanagement and corruption. •To his credit, Pres. Masisi quickly conceded defeat and promised to ensure a smooth transition to the opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change Party and its president-elect, Duma Boko.
Open source reportOff Leash update 10 July Russia •A Russian court issued an arrest warrant for murdered dissident Alexey Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, for "participating in an extremist community." •Navalnaya left Russia in 2021, and has continued to champion her late husband's opposition ("extremist") causes from abroad. She's also editing a manuscript about his political career that he wrote in prison, which will be published and released in the U.S. in October. She was already unlikely to return to Russia; with this warrant outstanding, she definitely won't. •Separately, the U.S. FBI shut down a Russian "bot farm" that used artificial intelligence to post pro-Putin disinformation in the U.S. and elsewhere. The shuttered entity created two websites and almost 1,000 X (fka Twitter) accounts with all-American pseudonyms like "Sue Williamson" purporting to be normal apple pie-eating folks who think Putin is just swell. Gaza •An Israeli strike on a school building in southern Gaza reportedly killed at least 25 people. Israel said it was targeting a militant who had participated in the Oct. 7 attacks - and who was apparently sheltering behind displaced Gazans in the school building. •The UN estimates that over 80% of Gaza's schools have been severely damaged or destroyed in the war - often because militants like this one seek refuge in them. •Finally, Al-Monitor reported that PM Netanyahu's four "non-negotiable" demands for a ceasefire deal are causing problems for Egyptian mediators, who are trying to find common ground that Hamas and Israel can agree on. Netanyahu's demands are new and far removed from the slim common ground Hamas can reasonably accede to. Iran •Analysts agree that President-elect Pezeshkian won't be able to effect real policy changes in Iran's rigid theocracy, but the NYT hopes he'll at least be able to "shift the tone" and "tilt Iran away from the hard-line policies such as the mandatory hijab, which led to widespread discontent, an uprising and harsh crackdowns by the authorities." •While campaigning, Pezeshkian also indicated he's willing to negotiate with the U.S. to alleviate sanctions: "Why should we be fighting with the whole world?" [Of course, he'll only be allowed to negotiate within the narrow bounds Ayatollah Khamenei and the clerics set for him.] •Separately, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines reported that Iran has been provoking and funding U.S.-based anti-Israel protests over Gaza to stoke political opposition to the war. In many cases, Iran-linked agents pose as online activists to agitate distrust in U.S. policy. China •Japanese observers spotted China's Shandong Carrier Group operating in the Philippine Sea for the first time this year (it deployed there three times last year). Its deployments always make Japan uneasy, and Japanese jets scrambled in response to this one, too. Electric Vehicles •Tesla's U.S. electric vehicle (EV) market share fell below 50% for the first time in the second quarter. Overall EV sales were up 11% year-over-year. Ford and GM also had strong quarterly sales.
Open source reportOff Leash Update 8 July Coming Up This Week •India's PM Modi will meet Pres. Putin in Moscow today. It will be Modi's first visit to Russia since Russia invaded Ukraine - and his first trip abroad since he was reelected. He hopes to secure the release of Indian nationals who India says were "duped" into serving in the Russian army. •NATO meets for its 75th anniversary summit in Washington tomorrow through Thursday. •Sunday is a big day in sports: the UEFA 2024 final, the Copa America final, and the men's Wimbledon final all take place on the same day. Commodity Prices •Aluminum: $2,535/ton •Antimony (ingot min. 99.65% fob China): $22,700/ton •Cobalt: $27.150/ton •Copper: $9,944/ton •Gold: $2,378/toz •Lead: $2,237/ton •Natural Gas (Nymex): $2.32/MMbtu •WTI Crude Oil (Nymex): $82.69/barrel •Zinc: $3,001/ton Iran •Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran's runoff presidential election. •Pezeshkian seeks warmer relations with the West via experienced diplomats who he hopes will negotiate a softening of sanctions. •However, Iran's presidency has little power to effect real change, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei - who truly calls the shots - doesn't want change. Analysts say he'll block Pezeshkian's efforts to warm up to the West. •Turnout was around 50% - much higher than the record low 40% logged in the first round. Israel and Gaza •Thousands of Israelis staged anti-government protests across the country yesterday. Demonstrators want fresh elections as well as a ceasefire deal with Hamas to free Israeli hostages. •There's a sliver of a chance that they'll get their wish on the ceasefire deal: Hamas finally dropped its opposition to one of Israel's key demands and indicated that it could agree to release some hostages during an initial six-week ceasefire before further peace talks hash out the long-run plan. •There are still some big obstacles blocking a final agreement, but this removes one of them. That said, Hamas still wants assurances that Israel will commit to continue peace talks after the first round of hostages are released - and Israel has already said it can't agree to that (it wants the option to resume fighting if necessary). •Meanwhile, an Israel strike killed Ehab Al-Ghussein, a senior Hamas administrator, in a Gaza City school where he was sheltering with civilians. Ukraine and Russia •Hungary's Viktor Orban retroactively announced that he had met with Russia's Pres. Putin in Moscow and China's Pres. Xi in Beijing following his surprise talks with Ukraine's Pres. Zelensky in Kyiv. •Orban portrayed his haphazard outreach as a victory for diplomacy: "Hungary is slowly becoming the only country in Europe that can speak to everyone." •Others would say Hungary is the only country in Europe still willing to talk to Putin. NATO SecGen Jens Stoltenberg sought to downplay Orban's visit to Moscow as unrepresentative of NATO's position on Russia: "different NATO allies interact with Moscow in different ways." China •China sailed its largest coast guard vessel into the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and anchored it there, leading the Philippines to (fairly) accuse it of "intimidation." Afghanistan •The Taliban shifted some senior government officials around: the acting Central Bank (Da Afghanistan Bank) head, Hedayatullah Badri, is now Minister of Mines and Petroleum, replacing Shahabuddin Delawar, who will become the acting head of the Afghan Red Crescent Society. Other News •France's legislative elections yesterday resulted in a hung parliament - and a clear loss for Pres. Macron, whose party and coalition lost a third of its seats to both the far-left and the far-right.
Open source reportOff Leash update 21 May Iran •Iranian state media blamed the helicopter crash that killed Pres. Raisi on "technical failure," and that seems like a reasonable explanation for it: the Bell 212 helicopter Raisi was flying in was over 40 years old and weather conditions were poor. •Ayatollah Khamenei lamented the loss of his protégé Raisi, but vowed that there would be "no disruption" to the government. That's true: Iran's president is a figurehead beholden to the clerics, who will ensure that Raisi's successor is another conservative hardliner. Gaza •The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants for both Israeli PM Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar for war crimes and crimes against humanity, emphasizing that "international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all." •In this case, those laws probably won't be applied to either Netanyahu or Sinwar in court: even if judges decide to issue the requested warrants, the process would take months, and neither Israel nor Gaza recognizes the court's authority, so Netanyahu and Sinwar would be safe from arrest as long as they don't travel to any of the court's 124 member countries. •Separately, U.S National Security Advisor Sullivan traveled to Israel to nudge PM Netanyahu toward a ceasefire agreement linked to a "political strategy" for Gaza's future. China •China added three U.S. defense contractors that sell to Taiwan - General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, General Dynamics Land Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security - to its list of "unreliable entities" that are banned from exporting to or importing from China. •A U.S. Senate inquiry found that BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, and Volkswagen imported parts purchased (indirectly) from a Chinese supplier known to use forced labor in Xinjiang province. Sen. Wyden (D-OR) blamed the manufacturers for not doing enough to vet their suppliers: "automakers are sticking their heads in the sand and then swearing they can’t find any forced labor in their supply chains." Ukraine •Ukraine implemented nationwide rolling blackouts for the first time this year to conserve precious power supplies, which have been constrained by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. •Russia's offensive in northern Ukraine has slowed down, and Ukrainian forces are holding the Russians back between Kharkiv and the border. Afghanistan •An explosion in the Taliban's political heartland of Kandahar killed at least one person yesterday. •The Taliban's official statements depicted the blast as a minor incident that randomly targeted civilians, but local reports claimed it was a much more serious attack that targeted Taliban security forces, killing far more than one person. Saudi Arabia •Saudi's King Salman is suffering from a lung infection and it's severe enough that his son, Crown Prince MBS, postponed a planned trip to Japan to be with his ailing father. Other News •The UK's High Court ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal his pending extradition to the U.S. to face charges under the Espionage Act. He will try to appeal on the basis that - as a foreign national (he's Australian) - he wouldn't get a fair trial in the U.S.
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