Gaza
(Reuters/Al Arabiya) Palestinians are using war rubble to repave streets destroyed during Israel’s two-year assault on Gaza, crushing concrete and metal into pavement under a UN-run project they hope will mark a first step toward rehabilitating their damaged cities. The project run by the United Nations Development Program comes as progress stalls in US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, meant to build on an October Israel-Hamas ceasefire by surging aid and rebuilding the enclave from scratch. – Palestinians use Gaza rubble to restore streets as US rebuilding plan stalls
Germany/US/Iran
(Reuters/Al Arabiya) German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday Iran’s leadership was humiliating the United States and getting US officials to travel to Pakistan and then leave without results, in an unusually abrupt rebuke over the conflict. Merz also said he not see what exit strategy the US was pursuing in the Iran war- comments that underlined deep divisions between Washington and its European NATO allies, which had already been festering over Ukraine and other issues. – Germany’s Merz says Iran is humiliating US as talks stall
Lebanon/Israel
(AFP/Al Arabiya) The Israeli military on Monday said it had begun hitting Hezbollah positions in Lebanon’s Bekaa region, amid a ceasefire that began earlier this month. – Israeli military says striking Hezbollah in Bekaa valley
(AFP/Al Arabiya) Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that direct negotiations with Israel were aimed at ending the conflict with Hezbollah, while accusing those who drew Lebanon into war of “treason” in an implicit rebuke to the Iran-backed armed group. – Lebanon president responds to Hezbollah: Taking country to war is ‘treason’
Norway/Ukraine
(Polina Moroziuk – The Kyiv Independent) Ukraine and Norway will launch joint production of Ukrainian-designed mid-strike drones, with several thousand units planned for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on April 27. The project follows a defense declaration signed by Ukraine and Norway on April 14 in Oslo, where President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere agreed to deepen military cooperation, including joint drone production, as part of a broader strategic partnership. “Projects like joint production and guaranteed supply of drones directly strengthen our forces on the battlefield,” Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said. – Ukraine, Norway to jointly produce mid-strike drones
Poland/Ukraine
(Martin Fornusek – The Kyiv Independent) Poland is launching a new project to build a modern drone fleet with the help of Ukrainian technical expertise and European funding, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on April 27. “Ukraine has proven itself a partner for countries that want to defend themselves against aerial attacks,” Tusk said at an event in the southeastern Polish city of Rzeszow, where he met Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko. – Ukraine to help Poland build ‘modern drone armada,’ Polish PM Tusk says
Russia/Ukraine
(Reuters/Al Arabiya) German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested on Monday that Ukraine may have to accept that parts of its territory could remain outside Kyiv’s control in a future peace deal with Russia, linking such concessions to the country’s prospects for joining the European Union. “At some point, Ukraine will sign a ceasefire agreement; at some point, hopefully, a peace treaty with Russia. Then it may be that part of Ukraine’s territory is no longer Ukrainian,” Merz told students at the Carolus-Magnus-Gymnasium in Marsberg, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, on Monday. – Merz suggests Ukraine may have to accept territorial loss to help pave way for EU path
Ukraine/Israel
(Martin Fornusek – The Kyiv Independent) Kyiv has warned of diplomatic repercussions if Israel allows a vessel carrying grain stolen from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories to dock and unload its cargo, Axios reported on April 27, citing an undisclosed Ukrainian source. Failure to turn the Panormitis bulk carrier away from the Haifa port will lead to a crisis in Ukraine-Israel relations, the source told Axios reporter Barak Ravid. The Kyiv Independent’s diplomatic source has confirmed the information. – Ukraine reportedly warns Israel of diplomatic crisis over ship with stolen grain bound for Haifa
US
(Zachary Basu – Axios) One uncomfortable question was all it took for President Trump to resume hostilities with the Washington press, less than 24 hours after their shared brush with death. In just a few years, the president, the press and the country have metabolized an entire generation’s worth of political violence. Trump, more than anyone, has stopped treating these moments as extraordinary. “I wasn’t worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world,” he told “60 Minutes” in his first sit-down interview since a gunman stormed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night. Trump waved off the notion that he — a president who has now survived three assassination attempts in two years — could do anything to change the trajectory of political violence in the United States. – Trump’s 24-hour truce with the media
(Reuters/Al Arabiya) White House chief of staff Susie Wiles will hold a meeting this week on presidential security after a shooting near a gathering of journalists and administration officials in Washington, a senior White House official told Reuters on Monday. The official said President Trump and the White House stand by the leadership of the US Secret Service following the shooting outside the hotel ballroom where the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was being held. – White House to discuss presidential security, stands by Secret Service
Cyber Security and Surveillance
(Pierluigi Paganini – Security Affairs) A Chinese national ran a spear-phishing campaign by posing as a U.S. researcher and tricked NASA employees into sharing sensitive information. The NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) and federal partners discovered the scheme that also targeted government agencies, universities, and private firms. U.S. export controls limit sharing sensitive technology, and NASA’s OIG enforces them to protect critical data and defense-related assets. Investigators uncovered a long-running phishing scheme in which Chinese national Song Wu impersonated a trusted aerospace professor to trick targets into sharing export-controlled software and source code. Between 2017 and 2021, he targeted dozens of victims across NASA, the U.S. military, government agencies, universities, and private firms. “According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the indictment, and other information presented in court: Song allegedly engaged in a multi-year “spear phishing” email campaign in which he created email accounts to impersonate U.S.-based researchers and engineers and then used those imposter accounts to obtain specialized restricted or proprietary software used for aerospace engineering and computational fluid dynamics.” reads the press release published by DoJ in 2024. “This specialized software could be used for industrial and military applications, such as development of advanced tactical missiles and aerodynamic design and assessment of weapons.” – Chinese spy posed as researcher in spear-phishing campaign targeting NASA to steal defense software
