The military talks between Lebanon and Israel, which opened Oct⁠ober 21 at US Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, have ended without understandings or a date for another round, according to an Emirati report. The sticking point: Israel wants a joint army committee overseeing security in the south, and Lebanon says that crosses a sovereignty line.

• Israel proposed a joint committee of Lebanese and Israeli officers, under American patronage, to supervise security arrangements in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese sources cited by Erem News.
• Its "experimental zones" idea ties each phase of Israeli withdrawal to the Lebanese army disarming Hezbollah and dismantling its infrastructure in that area.
• Israel also asked for fixed and mobile checkpoints, home searches for weapons, ID checks on residents and returning displaced people, and arrests of people it deems threats.
• The Lebanese delegation rejected all of it, arguing it contradicts the US-brokered framework of gradual Israeli withdrawal matched by Lebanese army deployment.

What to watch: With no date set for a new round, the withdrawal-versus-disarmament sequencing dispute stays open, and the Lebanese army's role in the south remains the unresolved question.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, in office since last May⁠, is preparing a regional tour next⁠ week that starts in Beirut and continues to Damascus, according to sources cited by Annahar. Lebanon's leg is expected to center on trade and stability, while Syria's will be dominated by border security.

• In Beirut, al-Zaidi will lead a government delegation; talks are expected to cover trade and investment cooperation and regional security coordination.
• Last Jul⁠y, Iraqi and Lebanese officials discussed agricultural cooperation and wider access for Lebanese products in Iraqi markets.
• In Damascus, he is expected to meet President Ahmad Al-Sharaa on border security, intelligence coordination, counterterrorism and anti-smuggling efforts.
• No detailed official agenda has been announced, and the Annahar report notes that turning pledges into projects would require clearing trade and administrative obstacles.

Why it matters: Baghdad is widening its Arab ties while Lebanon is short of both investment and partners, so any concrete trade mechanism from the visit would be a rare piece of practical news.

Lebanon's Agriculture Minister Nizar Hani said rehabilitating farming in the south is a core priority, because Israeli attacks hit land, trees, farms and irrigation networks and kept farmers from reaching their fields. He spoke at the World Food Day 2026 event, organized with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme in Baadaran, in the Chouf mountains.

• Hani outlined his plan: assess damage, restore productive infrastructure, rehabilitate irrigation, protect soil and help farmers resume their seasons.
• He said his visits to Arab countries aim to expand markets, ease export and transport obstacles and attract investment and expertise.
• The World Food Programme's Lebanon director said hardship persists after years of crisis, with families still struggling to afford nutritious food.
• FAO's representative stressed listening to farmers before offering solutions, with technology built on their own experience.

Zooming out: Hani's own yardstick is results in the field, from lower costs to steadier farm incomes, which means donor funding will be judged by what actually reaches southern soil.

Israeli forces have closed every entrance to Hebron, the largest city in the occupied West Bank, and forced about 2,200 Palestinians from their homes. The crackdown followed a Fri⁠day shooting at a checkpoint that killed two Israeli soldiers. Hebron's mayor calls it collective punishment, meaning a whole community penalized for the act of a few, and says the timing looks tied to Israeli elections due within days.

• Mayor Yousef Al-Jaabari told Middle East Eye that "no one can enter or leave" the city, and that residents of Deir Bahala, al-Jalda and nearby areas were evicted.
• Two suspected Palestinians opened fire at a checkpoint near Farsh al-Hawa, killing two soldiers and wounding three.
• The evacuated zone covers about 330 dunams (roughly 33 hectares) and more than 490 housing units. Residents say soldiers gave families five minutes to leave.
• At least 40 Palestinians were arrested Satur⁠day evening, and businesses and residential buildings were demolished, according to the Palestinian Information Center.
• The Ibrahimi Mosque, a Unesco World Heritage Site that is holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians, is closed, with staff expelled and the call to prayer banned. Palestinians have administered it as a mosque for more than 1,400 years.

What to watch: The mayor has declared a state of emergency and opened a crisis hotline, and he links the timing to Israeli elections in the coming days, so expect the closure's length to become a political question.

The owners of Elvis Presley's music have sued Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, claiming it trained its AI on 274 of his copyrighted songs without permission. Training means feeding millions of existing works into a model so it can generate new ones. The suit, filed Fri⁠day, is the most high-profile AI-music case yet brought on behalf of a single artist, since earlier suits came from record labels.

• The songs named include "Can't Help Falling in Love," "A Little Less Conversation" and "Don't Be Cruel," according to Billboard.
• A unit of Authentic Brands Group, the licensing company that largely controls Elvis's catalog, trademarks and likeness, filed it together with other rights-holders.
• The complaint says Anthropic built its business on infringement "at a scale never seen before" and produces "unlicensed derivative works."
• AI firms argue that training is protected by fair use, a legal defense that allows some copying without permission. That question is still pending across dozens of lawsuits, with billions of dollars in potential damages at stake.
• Anthropic had not responded to a request for comment on Satur⁠day.

The bigger picture: Lawsuits by the three major labels against AI song generator Suno ended in a settlement with Warner Music Group, while talks with UMG and Sony remain contentious, so the courts have yet to settle the fair-use question.

Two years after Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election to Donald Trump, Democrats in tight midterm races are changing their messaging on Israel, transgender athletes, the border and healthcare. The party's moderate and progressive wings are pulling in different directions as it tries to win back Congress in the Nov⁠ember 3 vote, and the right answer often depends on the state.

• On Israel, 60% of US adults view it unfavorably, and 80% of Democrats, according to a Pew survey cited by Al Jazeera.
• Senator Chris Coons, long a supporter of Israel and a likely chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee if Democrats win the chamber, now wants a "thorough reexamination" of the relationship and is open to sanctioning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• Candidates including Representative Marcy Kaptur and Senate candidate Annie Andrews have said they oppose transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called such retreats shameful.
• In Texas, Senate candidate James Talarico campaigns as a "border security Democrat," while some progressives push to abolish ICE, the federal immigration enforcement agency.
• KFF polling puts support for Medicare for All, a single federal health insurance program, at 66%, up 13 points since 2020.

Why it matters: If Democrats win the Senate, figures like Coons and Chuck Schumer would shape US policy on Israel, and they currently sound different on how far to go.