The Times reports that Iraqi protesters’ skulls have been shattered by tear gas canisters fired directly at their heads by Iraqi security forces.

The Huffington Post reports that US President, Donald Trump, has offered France ‘Some Nice ISIS Fighters’ in a public spar with French President, Emmanuel Macron, at this week’s NATO Summit. Macron told Trump to “be serious,” delivering a real-time fact check of his false claim that most Islamic State fighters are from Europe.

The Guardian reports that President Macron clashed with both President Erdoğan and President Trump at this week’s NATO summit. The French president was rebuked by Trump over the former’s criticism of NATO after a row with Turkey about the Kurds.

Reuters reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with .S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday in Lisbon, the US State Department announced on Tuesday.

Reuters reports that Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, called on Wednesday for the release of any unarmed and innocent people who were detained during protests against gasoline price hikes, after two weeks of violent clashes. Associated Press reports Rouhani says Tehran hasn’t closed the window on talks with the US but reiterated his government’s standing condition that the Trump administration lift sanctions imposed on Iran before any negotiations can take place.

Reuters reports that OPEC and its allies, led by Russia are gearing up to approve deeper oil production cuts this week to prevent a new glut and a collapse in oil prices with Iraq saying the move was supported by key members.

The Telegraph reports that Islamic State followers have migrated to a new messaging service, named TamTam, following a purge on their preferred platforms, where they continue to communicate and share propaganda.

LBC reports that the editor of the Jewish News, Richard Ferrer, argued Jeremy Corbyn’s apology over antisemitism was insufficient. Speaking to Nick Ferrari, Ferrer asserted Corbyn ‘is’ himself the problem the Labour Party needs to remedy.

In the Financial Times, David Gardner argues that ongoing Lebanese protests have given way to a debt crisis, asserting the country’s banking system is in hock to an insolvent state.

In The Independent, Slavoj Zizek writes that no conflict exists between the struggle against antisemitism and the struggle against Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

Gantz-Netanyahu talks fail to reach breakthrough: Coalition talks between Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz yesterday at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv failed to reach a breakthrough, all Israeli media reported. Likud again blamed Gantz’s running mate, Yair Lapid, for scuttling the talks and claimed they had made “far reaching concessions” towards a national unity government. Blue and White, in turn, blasted Netanyahu directly for the lack of progress, saying there was “no new proposal commensurate with his current legal situation or election loss.”

Likud Central Committee delays meeting: Army Radio reported that today’s key meeting of the Likud Central Committee has been postponed until next week, as Prime Minister Netanyahu travels to Portugal for talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa. The Likud Central Committee was supposed to meet to decide whether to hold leadership primaries in the coming weeks, as called for by Netanyahu rival Gideon Saar. Ynet reported today that multiple Likud mayors and branch chairmen have so far come out in support of Saar – including a key West Bank regional council leader – although only one Likud Knesset member. Netanyahu held a series of meetings yesterday with more than two hundred Likud activists in preparation for any primary challenge.

IDF falsified conscription data: Kan Radio reported this morning that the IDF published false numbers about the scale of ultra-orthodox conscription to the military in recent years, inflating numbers – sometimes double the actual amount – in the context of long-standing efforts to increase the number of ultra-orthodox soldiers. The IDF chief of staff and defence minister were presented with inflated figures emanating from the IDF’s ultra-orthodox Draft Administration, whose commander recently launched an investigation into the data. Per the report, in 2017 the official number of ultra-Orthodox men conscripted was just over 3000, although in reality the number was only 1300 men.