Global Intelligence Briefing

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, we focus on the shelved Trump–Putin summit. After days of signaling a rapid Budapest meeting to discuss Ukraine, the White House pulled back, citing Moscow’s refusal to ease frontline attacks or demands for Ukrainian concessions. Trump said he wouldn’t risk a “wasted meeting.” Why it leads: timing — expectations rose after Zelenskyy’s Washington visit; geopolitics — Russia sought broader concessions; and battlefield momentum — Ukraine’s deep strikes on Russian fuel infrastructure and Russia’s stepped-up attacks hardened positions. Our review of recent diplomacy shows repeated flashes of summit optimism fading when terms turn to territory and security guarantees. Today in

, we track the hour’s developments: - Eastern Europe: Day 1,336 of the war. Russian missile and drone salvos hit Kyiv and towns in Sumy and Donetsk; Ukraine reports continued long‑range strikes degrading Russian refining capacity. - Indo‑Pacific: North Korea fired a ballistic missile eastward, the first launch under South Korea’s new president. In Japan, Sanae Takaichi is confirmed as the country’s first female prime minister; markets rallied on expectations of reflationary policies. - Europe: Lithuania briefly shut Vilnius airport after waves of cigarette‑smuggling balloons from Belarus entered airspace. EU and China will seek “urgent solutions” to Beijing’s rare‑earth export controls as Brussels braces for supply risk. - Middle East: Israel identified the remains of two hostages from Gaza and moved to deregister major aid groups in Gaza and the West Bank, raising alarms over humanitarian access. Reports continue of abusive detention conditions for Palestinian minors, including a Palestinian American boy. - Americas: The U.S. shutdown, now Day 21, hinges on an ACA subsidy fight; 900,000 federal workers are furloughed, with deeper operational impacts looming. A pardoned Jan. 6 rioter was arrested for threats against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. U.S. naval and special‑forces activity is increasing off Venezuela. - Health/Science/Tech: A study by 22 public broadcasters finds popular AI chatbots misstate news content 45% of the time. OpenAI launched a chatbot‑powered browser; Anthropic is in talks with Google for compute worth tens of billions. A retinal implant restored reading ability in most patients in a small trial; researchers grew an adrenal “gland‑in‑a‑dish.” Underreported, by our check: Sudan’s El Fasher — roughly 260,000 civilians trapped under siege for 16 months — faces intensifying hunger and deadly strikes; Myanmar’s Rakhine — over 2 million at imminent famine risk as WFP aid halts — remains largely off front pages. Both crises worsen as humanitarian funding falls. Today in

, we connect the threads. Strategic choke points define the day: rare‑earths and cloud compute in tech; fuel and port access in wars; and funding pipelines in aid. Trade frictions and export controls lift costs even as the U.S. data blackout from the shutdown muddies policy choices. Conflicts targeting energy systems amplify inflation and scarcity; aid cuts convert shocks into famine, as seen from Gaza to Sudan and Myanmar. Today in

- Europe/Eastern Europe: EU foreign ministers weigh a 19th Russia sanctions package while NATO drills test rapid deployments. France’s government faces budget strain. Lithuania’s balloon shutdown shows hybrid pressure from Belarus. - Middle East: A tenuous Gaza ceasefire frays amid renewed strikes and NGO deregistrations; Lebanon’s border stays tense. U.S. lawmakers signal movement on easing Syria sanctions; Iran’s rial slides past 100,000 tomans per dollar. - Africa: Kenya mourns four killed at Raila Odinga memorial events; Ivory Coast’s fourth‑term bid by Ouattara heightens tensions. El Fasher’s siege deepens; Mozambique, Haiti, and Sudan responses are underfunded. - Indo‑Pacific: Japan’s political shift under Takaichi; North Korea’s launch; China‑EU rare‑earth talks; Afghanistan‑Pakistan ceasefire holding ahead of talks. - Americas: Shutdown fallout expands; U.S.–Colombia tensions rise after aid freeze; Haiti’s hunger emergency worsens; U.S. posture hardens around Venezuela. Today in

, the questions asked — and missing: - Asked: Can a Trump–Putin summit be revived without territorial concessions? Will Japan’s new government sustain market optimism? - Missing: When will secure humanitarian corridors open into El Fasher and Rakhine — and who funds WFP’s broken pipeline as 58 million lose aid? What safeguards will Israel provide if major NGOs are deregistered? How will regulators enforce reliability standards for AI systems and news‑distribution tools that misstate nearly half their answers? What is Europe’s contingency if rare‑earth flows tighten further? Cortex concludes: Diplomacy paused, supply chains tightened, and aid pipelines thinning — today’s map is drawn by chokepoints. We track the headlines — and what they omit. This is NewsPlanetAI — The Daily Briefing. We’ll be back on the hour.