SCOOP: A classified report from Israel's foreign ministry raises doubts over Trump's optimistic statements about the with Kim Jong-un. It determines the U.S. retreated from its positions on several issues relating to North Korea's nuclear program.
NEW: The first exit polls from Israel's elections project Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party to win 33 to 37 seats, while retired Gen. Benny Gantz's Blue and White Party is expected to win 36 to 37.
Brazil's newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro issued a series of executive orders targeting indigenous groups and the LGBT community within hours of being inaugurated.
JUST IN: Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky, who plays president of Ukraine in a television series, has won the first round of Ukraine's presidential elections with about 30% of the vote.
Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak was murdered over the weekend, apparently for his work investigating corruption. His last report has now been published, “The Model, the Mafia, and the Murderers”
Senior Israeli official tells
@BarakRavid
ahead of Netanyahu speech: "Whoever still believes Iran signed the nuclear deal with honest intentions is going to have a very interesting time this evening"
Mexico's July elections were a huge victory for women:
- The lower house will have the world's fourth-largest female legislative representation
- The Senate will have the world's second largest female representation after Belgium
Sanna Marin will become the world's youngest prime minister at age 34 when she's sworn in as Finland's prime minister later this week.
She'll lead a coalition government consisting of five parties, four of which are led by women.
Putin ally contacted Russian and Syrian officials weeks before an attack on U.S. troops in Syria, WaPo reports. The ally in question is "Putin's chef," indicted by Mueller for election meddling
The British government believes the Kremlin bears responsibility for the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal, but Sarah Sanders declined to accuse Russia
Xi Jinping said today that China would like to form a strategic partnership with the Arab League to become "the keeper of peace and stability in the Middle East"
Scoop: James Mattis rejected a request from Benjamin Netanyahu to soften the United States' conditions for a $500 million arms deal between Israel and Croatia for the sale of 12 F-16 fighter jets, an Israeli official tells Axios.
Per a leaked itinerary, Mohammed bin Salman's U.S. tour includes meetings with: Oprah, Trump, Obama, Bush, Bill+Hillary Clinton, Musk, Cook, Bezos... you get the picture
After his threats on the Iran deal, Trump risks isolating the U.S. and causing a crisis or undercutting his credibility by backing down,
@RichardHaass
writes for
@axios
BREAKING: The longtime dictator of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, has been removed from office and arrested following months of protests against his brutal regime.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's preferred candidate for mayor of Istanbul was defeated on Sunday, an embarrassing result for the strongman two months after election officials gave in to his request for a re-run.
NEW: Dutch authorities say they expelled four Russian GRU officers who were attempting to hack a global watchdog investigating the Novichok poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.
Mueller's indictment reveals the Internet Research Agency was more than a "troll farm" — it was the hub of a methodical and well-funded intelligence operation against the U.S.,
@apolyakova
writes for
@axios
At midnight on Wednesday, Canada became the second country to permit the possession and use of recreational marijuana at a national level, following in the footsteps of Uruguay.
Haley at UN Security Council, going far beyond what Trump has said on Skripal: "The credibility of this council will not survive if we fail to hold Russia to account"
Protestors took the streets around the world this weekend over:
-cronyism in Japan
-detention of separatist leaders in Spain
-authoritarianism in Hungary
-rape scandals in India
-airstrikes in Syria
A former Russian double agent was poisoned in an English town on Sunday. Investigators now believe it was from a nerve agent, and it's being treated as an attempted murder.
The U.K.'s Speaker of the House of Commons said that he won't let PM Boris Johnson suspend Parliament in order to force through a no-deal-Brexit in October, the Telegraph reports.
NEW: The European Parliament voted Wednesday to recognize Hungary's illiberal government for violating the EU's founding values.
The next step could be a vote to strip Hungary of its membership rights.
If Russia gets away with breaking its treaty with Ukraine, China may also learn that more aggressive tactics with neighbors would carry little to no risk, writes Expert Voices contributor
@sethcropsey
House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said that while there had been no formal request from the U.S. for Trump to address Parliament, "nothing has happened since" 2017—when Bercow cited "racism and sexism" in opposing such an invitation—to change his mind.
Netanyahu briefed Trump on Iran's "nuclear archive" two months ago, and timed the public announcement with Trump's deadline in mind,
@BarakRavid
reports
NEW: In what she called a "really good compromise," Angela Merkel has reached an agreement with Germany's hard-line interior minister over the country's migrant crisis.
Trump told Netanyahu the U.S. will pull out of the Iran nuclear deal if significant changes aren't made, and that European allies had only proposed cosmetic changes. Scoop from
@BarakRavid
JUST IN: Israel is headed for new elections as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to form a coalition after his biggest-ever electoral victory
Scoop from
@BarakRavid
: Netanyahu will extend ambassador Ron Dermer's term in DC by another year. Persona non grata under Obama, Dermer is now a frequent West Wing visitor
Scoop: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will hold a meeting in New York with representatives of 40 countries and international organizations to discuss ways to block or influence Trump’s Middle East peace plan.
Brazil’s National Museum, which has 20 million items including some of the oldest human remains ever found in the Americas, was consumed by fire Sunday night.
At least 7 people were killed last week when a missile test resulted in an explosion near Russia's Arctic coast that released radiation.
The intrigue is that missile engine tests don't involve radiation – with one possible exception.