India’s Modi rubs shoulders with Israel’s Netanyahu, Colombia’s Petro sees polling boost, Pentagon threatens AI firm

Modi, Netanyahu seek to boost India-Israel ties

India is set to advance a trade and defense technology deal with Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as he wrapped up a two-day visit to the Jewish state on Thursday, the latest sign that the relationship is blossoming. But the two countries weren’t always close friends – they only established full diplomatic relations in 1992 – but Modi has long been an ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and became the first Indian PM to visit Israel back in 2017. Today, India is Israel’s largest arms buyer, accounting for 34% of the country’s weapon exports. Modi’s second-ever trip to Israel this week also marks another step toward reshaping alliances in the Middle East and beyond, as India’s rival Pakistan boosts defense links with Saudi Arabia, while the UAE shifts away from Riyadh and toward Israel and India.

Colombia’s Petro hits new highs late in the game

With just three months left in office, Colombian President Gustavo Petro is hitting some of his highest approval ratings, nearing 50% in a new poll. That’s a staggering 11 point jump since December, when the left-winger was on the ropes over a stagnating economy, a worsening security crisis, and tensions with the US over Gaza, Venezuela, and the “war on drugs.” But Petro’s deft combination of firm pushback against Donald Trump and pragmatic engagement with the US president – the two met at the White House earlier this month – yielded political dividends, not only for him, but for his preferred successor, far-left Senator Iván Cepeda, who leads the polls ahead of the May election. That race is shaping up to be a stark choice between Cepeda and right-wing lawyerAbelardo de La Espriella.

Pentagon and Anthropic go toe-to-toe over AI use

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has given the AI company Anthropic until 5:01 pm tomorrow to agree to allow the US military unrestricted use of its technology, known as Claude. Right now, Claude is the only AI running in the military’s classified systems, but the company wants reassurances that it’s not being used for surveillance of Americans or to conduct military strikes without human oversight. However, the Pentagon doesn’t want to have to ask Anthropic about individual use cases. Hegseth has threatened to use the Defense Production Act, which would force the company to give it access to Claude and simultaneously label the company a supply chain risk. The discussions come the same week that Anthropic scaled back its safety pledge, raising the stakes in a showdown between national security demands, personal privacy, and AI guardrails.