Trump says he’d ‘rather not destroy’ Iran but may ‘have to’: ‘You’ll know soon enough’
US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would “rather not destroy” Iran and that his decision on the matter will be clear “soon enough,” amid reports that Washington and Tehran were reviewing proposals regarding the Iranian nuclear program.
Trump’s remarks — the latest of numerous times he has threatened to bombard the Islamic Republic — came two days after his Republican Party was trounced in the US midterm elections, a defeat he and Vice President JD Vance have attributed to the unpopular Iran war and its fallout. But US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has faced scrutiny since the midterms, defended the war, hailing it as a “historic” bid to keep Iran from gaining nuclear arms. Trump has said he is standing by Hegseth.
Trump meets with defense chiefs; strikes on Iran may resume by Nov 9
President Donald Trump is weighing another major military offensive against Iran, holding two days of White House consultations with senior defense officials as American forces finalize preparations for renewed strikes, Fox News reported Thursday.
Senior administration officials confirmed that the meetings took place Wednesday and Thursday, although US Central Command has received no authorization to begin an operation.
November 9 has emerged as a possible date of military significance because a new moon is expected to provide exceptionally dark nighttime conditions, potentially benefiting certain operations.
Eisenkot set to receive mandate to form Israeli gov’t as Herzog rounds out consultation meetings
Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot is expected to receive the mandate to form a government from President Isaac Herzog on Thursday, after receiving 67 recommendations from consultations Herzog held throughout the week with all the parties that will serve in the incoming Knesset.
Following the consultations, Herzog announced that he would grant the mandate to one of the candidates on Sunday, adding he intends to meet with several party heads in private over the weekend to “leave no stone unturned to bring about the formation of a good, stable government for the people of Israel.”
Eisenkot received the backing of both Arab parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, although their recommendations do not commit them to ultimately joining his coalition.
Saudi normalization will not happen under Netanyahu government, source says - report
Normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia cannot happen while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains in power, a source familiar with the Saudi diplomatic agenda told Israel’s KAN News on Thursday.
“Saudi Arabia wants peace, negotiations, and for the Israeli-Palestinian issue to be closed via a two-state solution,” the source said. “But Netanyahu is not there.”
Canada warns of unprecedented threats against Jewish community
Senior Canadian national security officials are warning that the country’s Jewish community faces unprecedented threats in both severity and scale, following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, officials from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Public Safety Department and the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC) revealed that the pace of radicalization in Canada has reached levels not seen since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.
IDF Homefront Command launches its largest drill in nearly 5 years
In its largest drill in nearly five years, the IDF Homefront Command launched “Orange Dawn,” an exercise preparing emergency response units for a wide range of multi-front scenarios, including rescue operations.
45 Attorneys General Urgently Want Congress to Push Platforms Toward Age Checks
A bipartisan group of 45 attorneys general from 42 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands have asked Congress to pass the Senate’s Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) censorship law, and make sure the bill’s duty of care provision is included.
The letter, sent on November 3 and announced by Hawaii on November 4, was signed by the attorneys general of these 45 US jurisdictions, led by Hawaii’s Anne Lopez, Ohio’s Andy Wilson, Tennessee’s Jonathan Skrmetti, and Connecticut’s William Tong.
The same group, although smaller by five at the time, sent a similar letter to Congress in February, when 40 attorneys general urged Congress to pass the Senate version of KOSA, again, with its duty of care in place.
AI agents enter government, putting identity and accountability to the test
Governments are moving AI agents out of pilots and into live public services, and the UAE is leading the way. It has set a target to shift half of federal services and operations to AI within two years, its first government agents are already working across areas from tax auditing to customer support, and it has just created TAMM Global to license its AI government platform to other states. The ambition is substantial, and public adoption is already strong: Microsoft ranks the UAE first globally for generative AI use among working-age people.
When a person deals with a government, accountability is assumed. There is a named official, a case number, a record. When an AI agent acts on a citizen’s behalf or on behalf of the state, those same assumptions need somewhere to attach. Maintaining that level of accountability means being able to prove which agent acted, who authorized it, what limits applied and what it actually did, without exposing the data of the person it was serving. That is an identity and trust challenge.
Jordan secures $4.2M World Bank grant for Sanad digital ID, government AI
Jordan has signed a $4.2 million grant agreement with the World Bank to develop AI applications for public services and prepare to expand its Sanad digital identity platform to businesses.
The agreement provides for the development and testing of AI applications for government services, including tools capable of carrying out multiple tasks and processes. It also supports preparations to expand the Sanad digital identity platform to business users.
Plans for a National Center of Excellence in AI will be informed by the results of the government’s pilot projects.
Another objective is to attract foreign investment in Jordan’s digital economy, including through outreach to international technology companies.