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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
SYRIA
Syria’s Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have agreed to integrate into state institutions of the new Syrian government, interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa announced yesterday, adding that the landmark deal would also recognize Syria’s Kurdish community as an integral part of the state. Eyad Kourdi and Kareem El Damanhoury report for CNN.
Armed men attacked a position held by Syria’s government security forces in Damascus yesterday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, with the overnight skirmish raising concerns that the unrest sweeping Syria’s coastal regions could spread. It is unclear if anyone was injured, the war monitor added. Euan Ward reports for the New York Times.
The Israeli army today said it had struck military headquarters and sites housing weapons and equipment in southern Syria overnight. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Reuters reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Ukraine will have to make concessions over land that Russia had taken since 2014 in an agreement to end the war, with the resumption of U.S. support to Ukraine contingent on progress made during today’s U.S.-Ukraine meeting in Saudi Arabia, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday. Alan Rappeport reports for the New York Times; Michael R. Gordon reports for the Wall Street Journal.
Military officials from more than 30 countries will take part in Paris talks today on creating an international security force for Ukraine, a French military official said yesterday. John Leicester reports for AP News.
President Trump’s Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is planning to visit Moscow this week to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, sources said yesterday. Annmarie Hordern and Jenny Leonard report for Bloomberg News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Ukraine today attacked Moscow with its largest long-range drone bombardment of the war, Moscow’s mayor said. According to the Russian authorities, at least two people were killed and 14 injured in the attack, which also forced four airports in the area to temporarily suspend flights. Marc Santora and Ivan Nechepurenko report for the New York Times.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, ahead of today’s planned Washington-Kyiv talks in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah. Tim Balk reports for the New York Times.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Hamas has offered to hand over the governance of Gaza in exchange for a five-to-10-year truce in its war with Israel, Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler said on Sunday. Laura Kelly reports for the Hill.
Any further delay in Israel’s reversal of its block on the supply of aid and electricity to Gaza will “further reverse any progress we have managed to achieve during the ceasefire,” the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, said yesterday. Separately, the head of the U.N. aid agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, has accused Israel of “weaponizing humanitarian aid” with the blockade. The Washington Post reports; Robert Greenall and Imogen Foulkes report for BBC News.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Trump administration is canceling 83% of programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and intends to fold the remaining programs into the State Department, Secretary Rubio announced yesterday. Jennifer Hansler and Kit Maher report for CNN.
Iran is open to talks about its nuclear program with the United States if they are restricted to military concerns, Iran’s mission to the U.N. said in a social media post on Sunday. Matthew Mpoke Bigg reports for the New York Times.
The United States is withdrawing from the landmark international climate Loss and Damage Fund, a Treasury spokesperson said in an email yesterday. AP News reports.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
The Philippine government today arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte after receiving an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity, according to a statement from the Presidential Communications Office. Kathleen Magramo reports for CNN.
Uganda has deployed an unknown number of troops to South Sudan to support the country’s fragile government amid concerns over a looming civil war, a spokesperson for the Ugandan military has said. Rodney Muhumuza reports for AP News.
Greenland residents are voting today in an election dominated by concerns about Trump’s interest in taking control over the mineral-rich island. Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen reports for Reuters.
Activist groups from Myanmar are calling for the U.N. to investigate its special envoy to Myanmar, Julie Bishop, over her consulting company’s alleged links to Chinese mining and construction companies. David Rising reports for AP News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard yesterday said she has stripped security clearances from dozens of former national security officials and others, including former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Gabbard added that the daily presidential intelligence briefing would also not be shared with former President Biden. Dan De Luce reports for NBC News.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has cut about $10 million in annual funding for two cybersecurity initiatives housed within the nonprofit Center for Internet Security, including an initiative dedicated to helping state and local election officials, a CISA spokesperson said in an email yesterday. Christina A. Cassidy reports for AP News.
The Trump administration will reverse the Biden administration’s “myopic” focus on climate change in energy policy, Energy Secretary and former fracking executive Chris Wright told the largest U.S. gathering of the energy industry yesterday. Brad Plumer reports for the New York Times.
NASA is eliminating its chief scientist and 19 other roles amid efforts to pare back staff numbers by abolishing the Office of the Chief Scientist and the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy, according to a notice to Congress the Trump administration sent yesterday. Kenneth Chang reports for the New York Times.
DOGE’s efforts to abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have been somewhat reined in by the Trump-appointed agency leadership in recent weeks, Adam Martinez, the CFPB’s chief operating officer, testified in court yesterday. Tierney Sneed reports for CNN.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Trump aims to build minerals refining facilities on U.S. military bases inside the United States in a bid to boost domestic production of critical minerals and counter China’s control of the sector, two senior administration officials said. Ernest Scheyder and Jarrett Renshaw report for Reuters.
The inspector general for the Office of Personnel Management on Friday told lawmakers he is investigating the use of an OPM data system that DOGE used to email federal workers. Rebecca Beitsch reports for the Hill.
The Senate yesterday voted 67-32 to confirm Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) to lead the Department of Labor. Al Weaver reports for the Hill.
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating 60 universities over allegedly failing to comply with obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students, according to letters sent yesterday. Lexi Lonas Cochran reports for the Hill.
Ruth Marcus, a long-standing Washington Post columnist, resigned yesterday, citing the newspaper management’s decision to not run her commentary critical of owner Jeff Bezos’ new editorial policy. David Bauder reports for AP News.
A Saudi prisoner accused of plotting Al Qaeda’s 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole warship has signed a guilty plea offer to avoid a death penalty trial, his lawyer announced yesterday. Carol Rosenberg reports for the New York Times.
Perkins Coie, the law firm targeted by Trump last week for its role in the 2016 election, has hired an elite Washington firm, Williams & Connolly, to fight the order, sources say. Michael S. Schmidt and Kenneth P. Vogel report for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge yesterday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to deport pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, setting a court hearing in the case for tomorrow. Khalil has been moved to a federal jail for migrants in Louisiana to await deportation proceedings, according to his lawyers and a detainee database. Jonathan Allen and Luc Cohen report for Reuters.
DOGE is likely subject to the Freedom of Information Act disclosure obligations, a federal judge ruled yesterday, with the preliminary decision handing a major win to watchdog groups and others seeking to scrutinize the Musk-led initiative. Tierney Sneed reports for CNN.
Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 rioters do not extend to the separate crimes of a rioter who plotted to murder the law enforcement agents who investigated him, a district judge ruled yesterday. Ryan J. Reilly reports for NBC News.
A federal judge yesterday ordered the Trump administration to release foreign aid payments owed under certain existing contracts while declining to invalidate the mass contract cancellations by USAID and the State Department. Ella Lee reports for the Hill.
The Trump administration has improperly frozen a nearly $7 billion “green bank” climate grant, a coalition of three nonprofit groups alleged in a lawsuit filed yesterday. Michael Phillis and Matthew Daly report for AP News.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
