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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH CONFLICT
Hundreds of pagers carried by Hezbollah members exploded simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday, killing at least 11 people and wounding at least 2,700, including Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. Pagers also exploded in Syria, injuring at least 14, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by the group months before the detonations, sources told Reuters. Patrick Kingsley, Euan Ward, Ronen Bergman and Michael Levenson report for the New York Times.
Israel blew up the pagers yesterday out of concern that Hezbollah may have discovered its secret operation, three U.S. officials told Axios. “It was a use it or lose it moment,” one official said. A former Israeli official said Israeli intelligence services planned to use the pagers it managed to “plant” in Hezbollah’s ranks “as a surprise opening blow in an all-out war to try to cripple Hezbollah.” Separately, two U.S. officials said Israel did not inform Washington in advance about the operation. Barak Ravid reports.
Hezbollah today vowed to retaliate against Israel, while the Lebanese government condemned the attack as “criminal Israeli aggression.” CNN reports.
While the exploding pagers seemed to carry a Taiwanese brand, Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo has denied involvement, saying the pagers were made by a Hungarian firm it signed a deal with. BBC News reports.
ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH CONFLICT — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
World leaders have reacted to the pager attack against Hezbollah. Russia’s foreign ministry called the attack “an act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon,” while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Lebanon’s prime minister that efforts to stop Israel will continue. Egypt’s president also told the United States that it supports Lebanon. Reuters reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering firing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the Israeli press has widely reported. The move would “help stabilize his fractious ruling coalition, but potentially create instability at the top of Israel’s defense establishment.” An official in Netanyahu’s coalition confirmed there were such discussions. Aaron Boxerman reports for the New York Times.
The U.N. General Assembly will vote today on a Palestinian resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the West Bank within a year, withdraw its military forces, and evacuate all settlers. Edith M. Lederer reports for AP News.
The majority of Palestinians believe Hamas’s decision to launch the Oct. 7 attack was incorrect, according to a new poll published yesterday by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. Ali Sawafta reports for Reuters.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
A partial evacuation has been ordered in Russia’s Tver region after a “massive” Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire there, the governor has said. Authorities did not say how many people were being evacuated or whether there were any casualties. Jaroslav Lukiv reports for the BBC News.
Ukrainian prosecutors have launched an investigation into an alleged Russian “execution by sword of an unarmed Ukrainian serviceman with taped hands,” Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said Tuesday. Christian Edwards, Gianluca Mezzofiore, and Kostyantyn Hak report for CNN.
A long-awaited plan to help Ukraine rebuild using Russian funds is faltering as the United States and Europe grapple with how to create a $50 billion loan from Russia’s frozen central bank assets while complying with their own laws. Alan Rappeport reports for the New York Times.
U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating suspicious packages sent to or received by election officials in over 15 states, marking an increase from what was previously reported. Summer Ballentine and Steve Leblanc report for AP News.
Election officials in Arizona are racing to fix a clerical error that could prevent nearly 100,000 voters from casting ballots in state and local races. Marshall Cohen reports for CNN.
TRUMP LEGAL MATTERS
Former President Trump’s legal team has requested a 30-day extension to respond to the government’s appeal of the dismissal of his classified-documents case, making it less likely that a ruling on the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith and whether the indictment should be restored against Trump will come before Inauguration Day. Perry Stein reports for the Washington Post.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
California will now require social media companies to moderate the spread of election-related “deepfakes,” joining dozens of other states in regulating the A.I. fakery, after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) yesterday signed three new laws on the subject. Stuart A. Thompson reports for the New York Times.
U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS
The Biden administration has given Japan’s Nippon Steel more time to make a case for its purchase of U.S. Steel. Sources say the company is soon expected to re-file its application for a national security review by U.S. regulators of its $15 billion takeover. Kayla Tausche reports for CNN.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was briefed last week during his trip to Kyiv on parts of a Ukrainian plan to urge Russia to end the war, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said yesterday. Humeyra Pamuk reports for Reuters.
China said its warplanes tailed a U.S. military aircraft through the Taiwan Strait yesterday. The U.S. Navy did not immediately comment. Simina Mistreanu reports for AP News.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Thousands of civilians in Myanmar have been “killed at the hands of the military,” the U.N. said yesterday. Nick Cumming-Bruce reports for the New York Times.
An Al-Qaeda-linked group said it was behind an early morning attack on Mali’s capital, Bamako. The attack, which was the first of its kind in years to hit Bamako, led to military casualties and wounded “several officers,” according to Malian security forces. Wedaeli Chibelushi and Paul Njie report for BBC News.
An attack on a military base in eastern Colombia killed two soldiers and injured at least 21, Colombia’s military said yesterday, as tensions rise between Colombia’s government and the National Liberation Army. President Gustavo Petro suggested that the attack will lead to a cancellation of peace talks with the rebel group. Manuel Rueda reports for AP News.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party lost a crucial parliament seat in a special election in Montreal. The defeat, the second in three months for Trudeau’s minority Liberal government, will likely increase pressure on Trudeau to quit as party leader before the October 2025 election. Jessica Murphy reports for BBC News.
Venezuela has arrested a fourth U.S. citizen, a top official in President Nicolás Maduro’s government said yesterday, the latest in a roundup of foreigners detained in the government’s post-election crackdown. Samantha Schmidt reports for the Washington Post.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was sworn in yesterday for a second term after being elected in a landslide vote overshadowed by concerns about the vote count. AP News reports.
Ecuadorian’s president said yesterday he wants to amend his country’s constitution to allow the presence of foreign military bases. Vanessa Buschschlüter reports for BBC News.
Ghana’s main opposition party staged nationwide protests in regional capitals across the country yesterday, demanding an audit of the voter roll for the general election set for December. Francis Kokutse reports for AP News.
HOUTHI ATTACKS
Yemen’s Houthis shot down two U.S. drones in under a week, the U.S. military said today. Jon Gambrell reports for AP News.