Today's Headlines and Commentary

Saudi Arabia is seeking to work with the U.S. to build nuclear power plants in the Kingdom, but the challenge of building plants while also preventing the spread of nuclear weapons is stalling negotiations, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at the beginning of a state visit to Germany on Thursday, encouraged the creation of “warm” relations between the two nations, reports the New York Times. Last year, Erdoğan called Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition the “enemies of Turkey.” His shift in strategies comes on the heels of an economic crisis in Ankara.

A South Korean warship sailed close to disputed islands in the South China Sea without asking for permission in order to seek refuge from a typhoon, South Korean officials say, reports the Journal. The maneuver reportedly caused concern among China’s military officials, even as they accepted Seoul’s explanation.

U.S. military bases on Okinawa are the focus of Japanese elections on the island, polls show, and the leading candidate in the island’s gubernatorial election favors a sweeping reorganization of U.S. bases to other parts of Japan, reports the Washington Post.

Although NAFTA talks with Canada have reached an impasse, the trilateral agreement may not be immediately terminated, as the Trump administration has given up on the self-imposed deadline of Sept. 30 to impose a new deal, reports the Journal. Nonetheless, the administration still plans to publish a draft version of a bilateral agreement with Mexico.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated at the United Nations that his intelligence agency has discovered a “secret atomic warehouse” in Tehran, but did not provide details as to the content of the warehouse, reports the Times.

The botch Saudi-led airstrike last month that struck a Yemeni school bus has sparked a debate within the Trump administration about how much military support the U.S. should be supplying its Gulf allies in the Yemen conflict, reports the Journal.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Susan Hennessey and Benjamin Wittes analyzed how Rod Rosenstein protects the Mueller investigation and what his possible departure could mean for the special counsel’s investigation.

Andrew Keane Woods argued that tech firms are not sovereign in a paper for the Hoover Institution.

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