Israeli strikes kill 31 in Lebanon, 14 in Gaza; Paxton defeats Cornyn in Texas; Ebola outbreak spreads to Central African cities

Drop Site Daily: May 27, 2026

Iran obtains initial draft of a framework for a MOU with the U.S. to end the war. Iran reiterates that its enriched uranium stockpile is off the table in current U.S. negotiations. IRGC Navy says 25 vessels transited Strait of Hormuz under Iranian coordination in past 24 hours. South Korea says it is “highly likely” an Iranian missile was used to attack its cargo vessel. Israeli strikes kill at least 31 across southern Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says. Israeli strikes and displacement orders continue on Eid Al-Adha. Israeli strikes kill 14 in Gaza. Trump’s “Board of Peace” World Bank fund has received no donor money four months after launch, Financial Times reports. Israeli Knesset advances bill to seize control of antiquities sites across occupied territories. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeats Sen. John Cornyn in GOP Senate runoff. South Carolina Senate rejects new congressional map. Trump administration proposes requiring federal workers to sign nondisclosure agreements. CDC scrambles to recruit airport screeners as Ebola outbreak spreads. U.S. military kills one person in strike on vessel in Eastern Pacific. Bolivia’s lower house repeals law limiting presidential emergency powers. Human Rights Watch report finds UAE helped deploy Colombian mercenaries to fight alongside Sudan’s RSF. Russia accuses U.S. of violating UN treaty after denying visa to deputy foreign minister. Armenia signs strategic partnership and transit corridor agreement with U.S. as election approaches. Britain and Poland sign new defense and security treaty.

FROM DROP SITE:

• Livestream: U.S.-Iran Negotiations in the Balance, Israel Escalates Attacks Against Gaza and Lebanon

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Workers from the Uganda Red Cross Society evacuate the body of a suspected Ebola victim in Kampala on May 26, 2026. Photo by Badru KATUMBA / AFP via Getty Images

Iran and Ceasefire

• Iran obtains initial draft of a framework for a MOU with the U.S. to end the war: Iran’s state TV said on Wednesday Tehran obtained a preliminary document outlining a framework for a potential memorandum of understanding with the United States. The framework would restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels within 30 days, and includes the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iran’s vicinity and the lifting of a naval blockade. The Mizan news agency reported that “America has committed to withdrawing its military forces from Iran’s surrounding environment, whether this includes forces deployed to the region or forces stationed at bases requires negotiation.” It added, “If a final agreement is reached within a 60-day period, this agreement will be approved in the form of a binding UN Security Council resolution.”

• Iran reiterates that its enriched uranium stockpile is off the table in current negotiations: Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reiterated Tuesday that the fate of Iran’s highly enriched uranium “is not on the agenda of the negotiations” with the United States, speaking to Fars news agency on the sidelines of a security conference in Moscow. President Donald Trump has previously said the U.S. will not permit Iran to retain its 440-kilogram stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent and that it would have to be shipped to the U.S. as part of any agreement. But in a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump stated that it would be acceptable for the uranium to be “destroyed in place” by Iran with the oversight of international monitors. (Uranium cannot be destroyed but Iran has previously proposed diluting its stockpile with International Atomic Energy Agency supervision.)

  • On a similar note, an Iranian official told Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill that Trump’s demand that several Muslim nations join the Abraham Accords as part of a potential Iran deal has “no connection whatsoever to the ceasefire negotiations” between Iran and the U.S. He characterized this as an attempt to “extract last-minute concessions from the Arab countries” in the final stages before an agreement is reached.

• South Korea says it is “highly likely” an Iranian missile was used to attack its cargo vessel: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that an Iranian-made anti-ship missile was “highly likely” used in an attack earlier this month on the HMM Namu, a vessel operated by South Korean shipping company HMM, in the Strait of Hormuz, citing technical analysis of the warhead’s shape and gas debris color, according to the country’s Yonhap news agency. Seoul plans to summon Iran’s ambassador over the incident, First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo said.

• Iran calls U.S. strikes a sign of bad faith: Iran’s foreign ministry on Tuesday denounced U.S. strikes on southern Iran the previous day as a violation of the ceasefire and as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability,” warning Washington would bear responsibility for “all consequences.” “The Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered,” the Foreign Ministry statement read.

• IRGC official warns Iran will turn its coastline into a “graveyard for aggressors”: A senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval official warned Wednesday that Iran stands ready to repel any attack despite assessing the likelihood of renewed war with the United States as low, according to Tasnim. “The possibility of war is low because of the enemy’s weakness, but the armed forces are lying in wait,” said Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political chief of the IRGC’s navy, threatening to turn the area from Chabahar to Mahshahr—spanning the full length of Iran’s southern coastline—into a “graveyard for aggressors,” should hostilities resume.

• IRGC Navy says 25 vessels transited Strait of Hormuz in past 24 hours: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy reported Tuesday that 25 ships—including oil tankers, container ships, and other commercial vessels—had passed through the Strait of Hormuz under IRGC coordination and security clearance in the past 24 hours, according to Fars News, which is linked to the organization. This brings the total number of vessels allowed through the strait over 90, according to the group’s figures.

• Iran releases 10 Indian sailors: Iran has freed 10 Indian sailors who had been detained since July 2025 after their vessel, the MV Harbour Phoenix, was intercepted near Jask Port, India’s Directorate General of Shipping announced Wednesday, attributing the release to “sustained diplomatic engagement” between the two countries. The directorate said arrangements were being made for the crew’s return to India, but did not provide further details on the reason for the arrests or the detention of the Palau-flagged oil products tanker.

• Iran announces reopening of Tabriz International Airport: Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization announced that Tabriz International Airport, damaged during the war with the U.S. and Israel, will reopen Wednesday after being rebuilt by Iranian specialists, according to state broadcaster IRIB. The reopening brings the number of Iranian airports that have resumed operations following war-related disruptions to 20.

Lebanon

• Israeli strikes kill at least 31 across southern Lebanon on Tuesday: Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon killed at least 31 people on Tuesday, including four children and three women, and wounded 40 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said, with 15 of the dead reported in Burj al-Shamali, near the southern city of Tyre. Other major strikes were reported in Maarakeh, where five were killed, and Haboush, where four were killed. Israel carried out more than 180 strikes across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley on Tuesday, according to local media, despite the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States.

  • Two more first responders were killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, reporter Courtney Bonneau confirmed on Wednesday, bringing the total number of paramedics killed since March 2 to over 120.

• Israeli strikes and displacement orders continue on Eid Al-Adha:

  • An Israeli airstrike on Deir Aames killed two people on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Later, further attacks were reported with two major waves targeting Dibbin and Shebaa.

  • A Lebanese soldier’s body was recovered on Wednesday after being killed in an Israeli strike close to the Qaraoun Lake Dam in Lebanon’s western Bekaa region on Tuesday, while several paramedics were also killed as they attempted to evacuate him from the area. The Lebanese army said in a statement that a military unit managed to recover the soldier’s body under heavy Israeli drone surveillance, adding that rescue teams had initially been unable to reach him because of ongoing security threats and Israeli strikes targeting the area.

  • The Israeli army issued a forced displacement order on Wednesday for residents of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre and surrounding camps and neighborhoods. The order covered at least three Palestinian refugee camps in the Tyre area: Rashidiya camp, Burj Al-Shamali camp, and Al-Bas camp. The military further warned that “any movement south of the Zahrani River may put your lives at risk.” The Israeli military also issued a displacement order earlier today to residents of the southern Lebanese towns of Kfar Houneh, Aaramta, Mleikh, Jarjouh, and Houmine al-Fawqa.

  • Hezbollah said Wednesday that its fighters “clashed with the enemy forces at point-blank range” in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, a town at the edge of Israel’s self-declared yellow line in southern Lebanon, a day after the Israeli military announced it was expanding its ground incursions in the south. The town sits north of the Litani River, the boundary that Israeli forces are required to withdraw behind under the terms of the ceasefire.

• Israel orders forced displacement of 27 southern Lebanese towns and villages late Tuesday: The Israeli army issued forced displacement orders for 27 towns and villages across southern Lebanon just before 10 p.m. local time Tuesday, forcing families to rouse children and evacuate elderly and disabled relatives with only what they could immediately carry, journalist Courtney Bonneau reported.

• Netanyahu says Israel “deepening operation” in Lebanon: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of a Security Cabinet meeting Tuesday that, “We are deepening our operation in Lebanon. The IDF is operating with large forces on the ground and seizing dominant terrain. We are fortifying the security zone to protect the communities of the north.” He added that the Security Cabinet is “leading a massive national effort to advance creative and innovative solutions against explosive drones,” in reference to the successful use of FPV drones by Hezbollah to target the Israeli military in Lebanon.

• Hezbollah claims sustained ground engagement with Israeli forces across southern Lebanon: Hezbollah described its day-long ground engagement with Israeli forces advancing on Zawtar al-Sharqiyah in the Nabatieh district, with its media outlet claiming the destruction of a Merkava tank and a Humvee with FPV drones, strikes on a Namera armored personnel carrier and a communications vehicle in Bint Jbeil, and drone strikes on Israeli tanks in Odaisseh. It also said that it shot down two Israeli drones over Srifa and Deir Kifa, and that it itself conducted multiple drone and rocket strikes on Biranit barracks inside Israel, where one strike, it claimed, hit an Iron Dome launcher platform.

Palestine

• Israeli strikes kill 14 on eve of Eid Al-Adha: Israeli strikes killed at least 14 Palestinians on the eve of the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha. A drone strike on a roundabout west of Khan Younis killed two Palestinian men in their vehicle. A 15-year-old girl also died of wounds sustained during an Israeli attack on Monday on Mawasi, Khan Younis.

  • Israeli assassination strike on Al-Rimal neighborhood kills six: An Israeli strike on a residential tower in Gaza City killed six Palestinians and wounded at least 20 others, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that the strike killed Mohammed Odeh, whom he described as the current commander of Hamas’s military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades following the recent assassination of his predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad in an Israeli strike that killed six others, including three children, and wounded 50. Hamas confirmed Odeh’s death in a statement on Wednesday, saying that he was killed alongside his wife and two of his children in a “treacherous zionist bombing,” and adding that Israel’s “escalation of its crimes in assassination, siege, and starvation…will not succeed in achieving their goals that they have failed at, nor in breaking the will of our people and their resistance.”

  • Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz also announced Odeh’s assassination on social media and added that “the voluntary emigration plan from Gaza will be implemented at the proper time and in the proper manner.”

• Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in Jenin raid: Israeli forces shot and killed a 45-year-old Palestinian man during a military raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its crews recovered his body from inside the camp before transferring it to Jenin Government Hospital.

• Trump’s “Board of Peace” World Bank fund has received no donor money four months after launch: The World Bank fund established for Trump’s “Board of Peace” has received zero dollars from donors four months after its creation, the Financial Times reported Tuesday, citing four people familiar with the matter. Donations have instead been routed through a JPMorgan account without transparency, according to the report. Morocco’s approximately $20 million has funded the office of High Representative Nickolay Mladenov and salaries for a Palestinian technocratic committee, while $100 million pledged by the UAE to train a Gaza police force remains frozen, with the program yet to begin. Member states had pledged $7 billion for the board’s Gaza relief package. President Donald Trump promised an additional $10 billion in U.S. funding, but two people familiar with postwar planning told the FT that not one U.S. dollar has been deployed for Gaza’s reconstruction, and no contracts for that reconstruction have been awarded.

• Israeli Knesset advances bill to seize control of antiquities sites across occupied territories: The Israeli Knesset is moving toward a final vote on legislation that would establish a “Judea, Samaria and Gaza Heritage Authority,” empowering the government to purchase or seize land across the occupied West Bank and Gaza—including Palestinian-run Areas A and B—under the guise of protecting historic sites. The Heritage Ministry, which would be given control over these lands, is presently controlled by Amichai Eliyahu, a member of extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who supports the bill, has stated that it aims to “strengthen our hold on the Land of Israel.” The bill was condemned by the Palestinian Authority which governs parts of the occupied West Bank.

• Gaza Health Ministry opens emergency center: Dr. Muneer Al-Boursh, head of Gaza’s Health Ministry, announced the opening of a new emergency and ambulance center in Halawa Camp in northern Jabalia, where more than 20,000 displaced Palestinians are living in deteriorating tents along the Israeli military boundary dividing Gaza. “Halawa Camp stands as a witness to one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies of our time,” al-Boursh said. “More than 20,000 people are living in worn-out fabric tents on land that was once covered with orange and lemon groves—an area once filled with greenery and life. Today, nothing green remains, except painful memories.” Al-Boursh also noted the nearby presence of an Israeli military position to the east, from which Palestinians have been “relentlessly” fired upon, and which resulted in casualties that ambulances were unable to reach. The center was established in tribute to paramedic Ibrahim Abu Saqr, who was killed while helping to set it up. As of February 5, and following intensive Israeli attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers in Gaza, none of the Strip’s 37 hospitals were fully operational, and only 19 were partially functioning, according to OCHA.

U.S. News

By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com.

• Ken Paxton defeats Senator John Cornyn in Texas GOP Senate runoff: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated four-term incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in Tuesday’s Republican Senate runoff. Paxton overcame a narrow deficit from the March primary by relying on grassroots conservative support and surviving millions of dollars in attack ads from Cornyn highlighting his record of personal and political scandals, but the single factor that most likely facilitated his win was an endorsement he received from President Trump last week. Head-to-head polling shows Democratic nominee James Talarico holding a slight lead over Paxton in the November general election.

  • Freshman Rep. Christian Menefee defeated 11-term incumbent Rep. Al Green on Tuesday in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas’ 18th Congressional District, an incumbent-on-incumbent race created by Republican redistricting that pushed Green out of his redrawn 9th District. Menefee, 38, who was sworn in earlier this year after winning a special election following the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner, benefited from more than $5 million in outside spending from Protect Progress, a super PAC aligned with cryptocurrency industry leaders. Menefee was also congratulated by AIPAC on his victory; Green condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza in a 2025 statement.

  • Democrat Johnny Garcia won Tuesday’s primary runoff in Texas’ newly redrawn 35th Congressional District, which stretches from Austin to San Antonio, defeating Maureen Galindo, who was disavowed by national Democratic leaders after her antisemitic social media posts. Galindo received over a million dollars from an opaque group linked to the GOP. Garcia will face Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz, who won the Republican primary runoff Tuesday with Trump’s endorsement, in a district Trump carried by 10.5 points in 2024.

  • Texas State Sen. Mayes Middleton defeated Rep. Chip Roy on Tuesday in the Republican primary runoff for Texas attorney general. Roy has notably broken with President Donald Trump on occasion. Middleton, a wealthy Galveston oil businessman who loaned his campaign more than $16 million, positioned himself as the rightful heir to outgoing Attorney General Ken Paxton’s conservative legacy. Trump made no endorsement in the race.

• Redistricting news:

  • The Republican-led South Carolina Senate voted Tuesday against advancing a redrawn congressional map that would have eliminated the state’s sole majority-Black district, represented by Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, in a surprise defeat for President Donald Trump, who had urged lawmakers to pass it. Several Republican state senators reversed course, citing timing concerns after early voting had already begun for the June 9 primary, with state Sen. Richard Cash saying neither his “conscience nor common sense” would allow him to halt an election already underway. White House advisers said they were caught off guard by the failed vote, with one calling it a “betrayal,” and noted they received no advance warning from Republican Gov. Henry McMaster.

  • A Florida circuit judge on Tuesday denied a request to temporarily block a new Republican-friendly congressional map signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this month. Judge Joshua Hawkes, a DeSantis appointee, ruled that challengers had not sufficiently proven partisan intent and cited the proximity of the primary—less than three months away—as grounds against introducing map changes, while leaving open the possibility of halting the map after a full ruling on the merits. The new map could affect as many as four Democratic incumbents in a delegation where Republicans already hold a 20-8 advantage.

  • A three-judge federal panel blocked Alabama Republicans’ redrawn congressional map Tuesday, ruling it intentionally discriminates against Black voters in violation of the Constitution and that the Supreme Court’s recent decision narrowing the Voting Rights Act does not alter that finding. The panel—which notably included two Trump appointees alongside a Clinton appointee—ordered the state to continue using a court-drawn map that created a second majority-Black district, paving the way for Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures’ election.

• Federal appeals court temporarily blocks deportation of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil: The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay on Tuesday, blocking the Trump administration from re-detaining and deporting former Columbia University graduate student and activist Mahmoud Khalil while he seeks a Supreme Court review of his case, ABC News reported. Khalil, a green card holder married to a U.S. citizen, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March 2025 after Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleged his Pro-Palestinian views “threatened U.S. foreign policy interests,” while acknowledging that his activity was “otherwise lawful.”

• AP: ICE detainees dying by suicide at an unprecedented rate: An investigation by the Associated Press has found that at least 10 ICE detainees have died by suicide since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, a pace that far exceeds the growth in the detainee population. “Since October, seven deaths have been classified as suicides, a number that is already the most for any fiscal year in the agency’s history. ICE has usually recorded one or no such deaths annually,” AP wrote. Public health officials and jails experts told the AP that the unprecedented number of suicide deaths is an indication that authorities are failing to properly oversee the detention of tens of thousands of immigrants swept up in Trump’s immigration crackdown. “Staff in the facilities ignored signs of distress, delayed mental health treatment, and failed to monitor detainees who were already deemed at risk. They also permitted detainees to have access to materials that could be used for self-harm,” AP reported.

• Chemical tank implosion at Washington state paper facility kills at least one, injures multiple workers: A tank containing white liquor—a sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide solution used in paper pulp production—imploded Tuesday morning at a Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility in the Portland, Oregon suburb of Longview, Washington, killing at least one person and sending at least nine workers and one firefighter to hospitals with chemical burns and other injuries, authorities said.

• CDC scrambles to recruit airport screeners as Ebola outbreak spreads beyond remote areas into major regional cities: The CDC issued an urgent internal request Tuesday recruiting staff to screen passengers arriving from Central Africa for Ebola symptoms, as the International Rescue Committee warned the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda is spreading faster than responders can contain it and risks becoming the deadliest on record, according to an internal email obtained by ABC News. The current strain of Ebola, Bundibugyo, has no approved vaccines or treatments, carries a case fatality rate of 30 to 50 percent, and is difficult to detect with standard Ebola tests.The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday that JFK International Airport would join Dulles, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental as designated entry points for travelers from affected countries, where CDC staff will conduct temperature checks and symptom observation.

• Trump administration proposes requiring federal workers to sign nondisclosure agreements: The Office of Personnel Management posted a draft rule Tuesday proposing that federal employees be required to sign nondisclosure agreements, citing the need to combat unauthorized disclosures to the media and protect confidential government information, with violations potentially resulting in civil and criminal penalties. The proposal, which sets off a 30-day public comment period after official publication Wednesday, would give individual agencies discretion over whether to implement the NDAs for new hires and current employees. Whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid said the NDA would not create new legal obligations or restrict lawful whistleblowing, but argued it appeared designed to “induce fear and intimidate the workforce.” The American Federation of Government Employees said it would oppose the rule, warning that OPM would pressure agencies to make it mandatory and fire employees who refuse to sign.

• Hasan Piker and Medea Benjamin deny receiving subpoenas, contradicting Fox News report: Political streamer Hasan Piker and Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin both told Drop Site News’ Ryan Grim that they have not been subpoenaed, contradicting a Fox News report claiming federal officials had served them subpoenas in connection with their recent trips to Cuba. Fox News had reported that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued administrative subpoenas as part of a sanctions-related investigation into activists involved in humanitarian aid convoys to Cuba.

• U.S. trade representative says tariffs on Mexico and Canada will remain: U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Tuesday that the Trump administration intends to maintain tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada even as formal renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement gets underway, telling a Council on Foreign Relations event that tariffs will remain in place “as long as we have a giant trade deficit.” U.S. and Mexican negotiators are meeting this week in Mexico City to launch the first formal negotiating rounds, covering revised rules of origin and economic security. Greer reserved sharper language for Canada, saying the administration’s issues with Ottawa go well beyond its “significant” trade issues and indicated it may be difficult for the two countries to resolve their differences in the near future.

• Federal firearm charge dropped against Las Vegas man accused of operating unlicensed biological storage facility: A federal firearms charge against Ori Solomon, 55, the Israeli-American property manager of a Las Vegas home found to contain what the FBI described as a biological storage facility, was dismissed earlier this month after prosecutors cited a review of evidence and information provided by the defense, according to court documents. Solomon still faces a felony state charge for improper disposal of hazardous waste and is due in court on June 4. The January raid on the home uncovered refrigerators containing vials of unknown liquids, human biological samples, compounds associated with influenza vaccines, and COVID and pregnancy test components. An LLC tied to Ori Solomon’s home address matches one involved in a case in California involving a Chinese citizen, who faces federal charges for manufacturing and selling misbranded biological devices.

• California DOJ report finds overcrowding, medical neglect, and excessive force at state ICE detention facilities: A California Department of Justice report published May 15 found that overcrowding driven by the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign has led to inadequate medical care, food, and hygiene, as well as excessive use of force at the state’s ICE detention facilities, with Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) calling conditions “cruel, inhumane and unacceptable.” Inspectors found particularly severe conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and Desert View Annex—both run by GEO Group, whose former executive David Venturella was recently appointed acting ICE director—where only 18 percent of detainees reported being able to see a doctor, and four people have died during the second Trump administration. At Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, run by CoreCivic, inspectors found the facility holding 1,433 detainees against a contractual maximum of 1,142, with overflow detainees sleeping on floor mats. A separate CoreCivic facility, California City Detention Facility, was found to have opened prematurely without sufficient staff.

Other International News

• U.S. military kills one person in strike on vessel in Eastern Pacific: U.S. Southern Command announced Tuesday that it carried out another lethal strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific, killing one person and leaving two survivors as part of Operation Southern Spear, in which it has targeted “narco-terrorist organizations.” SOUTHCOM claimed, without evidence, that the vessel was “was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” SOUTHCOM has killed more than 190 people in vessel strikes in the Pacific and Caribbean since they began eight months ago.

• Bolivia’s lower house repeals law limiting presidential emergency powers: Bolivia’s Chamber of Deputies voted Tuesday to repeal Law 1341, stripping away key restrictions on the president’s ability to declare a state of exception and deploy the military against internal unrest. The 2020 law had capped the president’s emergency powers at 60 days, required justification for suspending civil rights, and restricted military force against demonstrations. Human rights groups warned that the repeal gives President Rodrigo Paz. sweeping authority to impose a military crackdown on the country’s protest movement by decree. Protests and roadblocks, which have been ongoing for four weeks, continued across Bolivia on Tuesday, amid deaths that the government has denied.

• Sudanese army recaptures four areas in Blue Nile region: The Sudanese army’s Fourth Infantry Division announced Tuesday it had retaken four areas in the Blue Nile region—Abdaqla, Adi, Washimbu, Um Shanqar, and Kinshinkaru—within Qaysan locality, and continued pursuing Rapid Support Forces fighters to Sudan’s Ethiopian border. The advance comes two days after the army retook the Barka area and brings it closer to the town of Karamak, which fell in March to an alliance of RSF forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North. Fighting in the Blue Nile area has displaced around 50,000 people from Karamak, Bau, and Qaysan in recent months.

  • Human Rights Watch report finds UAE helped deploy Colombian mercenaries to fight alongside Sudan’s RSF: A Human Rights Watch investigation released on Monday found that the UAE facilitated the deployment of hundreds of Colombian private military contractors to fight alongside Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces during the siege and fall of El Fasher. Witnesses in the city described white foreign fighters standing beside RSF troops during executions of civilians, including people with disabilities. An Abu Dhabi-linked security company, GSSG, reportedly recruited former Colombian soldiers who transited through UAE military facilities before being flown through Libya, Chad, and Somalia into Darfur. HRW said the evidence suggests UAE military stockpiles, aircraft networks, and proxy companies were used to support the RSF—which the report extensively documents committing war crimes, sexual violence, ethnic cleansing, and child soldier recruitment—and called for sanctions, arms embargoes, and investigations into Emirati officials and companies involved.

• Russia accuses U.S. of violating UN treaty after denying visa to deputy foreign minister: Russia accused the United States on Tuesday of breaching its obligations under the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement after Washington denied a visa to Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov, who had been set to represent Russia at a Security Council meeting in New York. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia also framed the denial as a slight against China, which chairs the Security Council presidency in May. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also canceled his participation in the same meeting due to U.S. visa issues.

• Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro meets with Trump at White House: Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro shared a photo Tuesday showing him alongside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, as his presidential campaign works to recover from a scandal over allegations he sought funds from a fraud-convicted banker to finance a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro. The younger Bolsonaro, who has emerged as the standard-bearer of Brazil’s political right and the leading challenger to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ahead of October’s election, traveled to Washington without a guaranteed appointment. Recent polls show the scandal has allowed Lula to retake the lead after the two had previously been in a near-tie. Lula’s office announced the president was beginning treatment for early-stage skin cancer and would undergo 15 radiotherapy sessions.

• Chinese dissident detained in South Korea after fleeing China by boat: Dong Guangping, 68, a Chinese dissident and former police officer who has been imprisoned multiple times for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party, was detained by South Korean coast guard authorities late Monday after crossing the Yellow Sea on an inflatable boat. Rights group Human Rights in China said Dong lost consciousness by the time he reached South Korean waters and urged Seoul not to return him to China, where he faces “a grave risk of persecution and torture.” Dong’s escape attempts span more than a decade—he was previously intercepted attempting to swim to islands off the coast of Taiwan, deported from Vietnam, and deported from Thailand despite holding UN refugee status. His family has since resettled in Canada. His detention comes at a sensitive moment for South Korea, which is seeking improved relations with China, its largest trading partner.

• Armenia signs strategic partnership and transit corridor agreement with U.S.: Armenia signed a strategic partnership agreement with the United States on Tuesday, alongside a framework on critical minerals and a transit corridor deal during a visit by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Yerevan. The 43-kilometer corridor, dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, would traverse southern Armenia and connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan and onward to Turkey. The agreements deepen Armenia’s westward pivot under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is opposed by pro-Russia parties in the country’s June election.

• North Korea tests AI-guided cruise missiles and ballistic weapons: North Korea tested a combination of tactical ballistic missiles, long-range artillery rockets, and AI-guided precision cruise missiles, state news agency KCNA reported Wednesday. Leader Kim Jong Un said the tests confirmed the combat readiness of cruise missiles equipped with AI-guided control and deployed near its border, which are capable of striking targets within 100 kilometers—well within range of Seoul.

• Britain and Poland sign new defense and security treaty: The UK and Poland signed a new defense treaty Wednesday, amid Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s push to rebuild security ties with Europe in response to U.S. pressure for Europe to shoulder more of its own defense. The agreement, signed by Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, will deepen cooperation on air and missile defense, weapons production, border security, organized crime, cybersecurity, and counter-espionage. Both governments framed the pact around the threat from Russia, with Tusk saying the two countries view Moscow as a “strategic threat.” The deal follows similar UK agreements with France and Germany amid an effort to rebuild ties damaged by Brexit.

More from Drop Site

• Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill speaks with Dr. Foad Izadi, professor of American studies and international relations at University of Tehran on Iran’s negotiating position. Drop Site’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Scahill also speak with Eyad Amawi of the Gaza Relief Committee in Deir al-Balah about the escalating Israeli assault on Gaza and the growing hunger crisis. Watch the livestream here:

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