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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said there was a chance of reaching an agreement to end the Ukraine war, adding that a number of countries including the United States and China were ready to support a peace settlement. Vladimir Soldatkin reports for Reuters.
A Ukrainian strike on Belgorod, Russia, yesterday killed four people, including two medical personnel, according to the region’s official headquarters. The head of Russian controlled parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Region said three civilians died in drone strikes in three separate districts of the region. Reuters reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday said an investigation was underway to determine what caused a dispute between two of Ukraine’s security agencies to escalate into a shootout this week. The dispute centers on the nine-day disappearance of a Russian nationalist activist fighting alongside Ukrainian troops who said he was detained by the SBU Security Service and obliged to sign a confession that he collaborated with Russian intelligence, which he later retracted. Reuters reports.
The Slovak Government on Wednesday rejected a 12-month extension for the EU’s individual sanctions package against Russia, three diplomats told POLITICO. Slovakia was the sole holdout in negotiations over the renewal of sanctions. Koen Verhelst reports.
Trump yesterday said he would ask European nations to pay back the United States for military aid and munitions previously sent to Ukraine, and appeared to signal a halt in sales to allied nations. In a social media post, Trump also slammed reports of heavily depleted U.S. munition stockpiles as a result of the Iran war. Reuters reports.
IRAN WAR
Vice President JD Vance yesterday said he would not call the military conflict with Iran a “war right now,” and described strikes from both sides as occasional flare-ups. Vance claimed he was “skeptical” of Iranian media reports that U.S. strikes hit a wedding, but clarified that the United States was looking into the incident. Maggie Haberman reports for the New York Times; Nilo Tabrizy, Edward Carron, Idrees Ali, and Goerge Sargent report for Reuters.
The U.S. Air Force said they have disabled advertising trackers on a range of phones and computers, according to letters released today by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and statements given to Reuters. The Air Force told Wyden it disabled the advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones two months ago. Raphael Satter reports.
IRAN WAR – LEBANON
The Israeli military yesterday said it had cleared Hezbollah militants from tunnels within the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon. The IDF said it would “neutralize” the underground complex. Ephrat Livni and Farnaz Fassihi report for the New York Times.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office yesterday said that Israel will release five Lebanese citizens under its custody after finding they had no links to militant groups. Sources told Reuters 35 Lebanese detainees remained in Israel, including 20 civilians. Rami Ayyub and Maya Gebelly report.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick yesterday apologized for saying no Americans had died in the Iran war in an interview on Wednesday. He claimed in a social media post that he was thinking about the Venezuelan military operation where no service members died. Katharine Jackson reports for Reuters.
CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT
French Health Minister Stephanie Rist today said that there were around 7,000 excess deaths recorded during the heatwaves over the summer. This follows Belgium’s announcement that 3,000 excess deaths were recorded in the country over the summer. Inti Landauro reports for Reuters; Reuters reports.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
A Philippine court today ordered the arrest of Vice President Sara Duterte in connection with a criminal case accusing her of making threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the first lady, and his cousin, a former House speaker. The case stems from Duterte’s remarks in November 2024 that she had spoken with an assassin and instructed him to kill Marcos Jr., his wife, and his cousin, if she were killed. Reuters reports.
German police reacted to two fresh suspected attempts against the country’s electricity grid, according to a report today from Bild. Police have received a letter claiming responsibility for one of the attempts in Dormagen. Separately in Munich yesterday, police investigated a suspected arson attack outside a defense firm, during which two people were arrested. Ludwig Burger reports for Reuters; Friederike Heine reports for Reuters.
Argentine President Javier Milei yesterday said he would sanction oil companies drilling in the Falkland Islands, adding that the prospect of two oil firms carrying out exploration in the islands was an urgent threat to Argentine interests. Downing Street today said it was clear that “the Falkland Islanders’ right of self-determination extends to the right to exploit their own natural resources.” Reuters reports; Will Grant, Chris Graham, and Peter Hoskins report for BBC News.
British political party Reform UK received a $5.4 million donation from a crypto investor convicted of a banking secrecy violation in the United States and pardoned by Trump. The donation accounted for 75% of the party’s donations last quarter. Today, Reform leadership’s senior aide Dan Jukes and Reform’s head of policy James Orr stood down pending the outcome of an internal probe relating to an undercover funding sting aired on Channel 4 News yesterday. Andrew Macaskill and Naomi Rovnick report for Reuters; Ewan Somerville and Joe Pike report for BBC News.
A Syrian envoy and U.N. representative yesterday confirmed that Syria has begun destroying the remnants of an Assad-era chemical weapons program that it recovered in May. Reuters reports.
Pacific Island leaders yesterday expressed concern about China’s Pacific missile test at their annual summit in a statement, though Nauru formally dissented. China’s intercontinental ballistic missile test in July passed over several island nations without adequate warning. China’s Foreign Ministry responded by saying the country is committed to peaceful development. Renju Jose reports for Reuters.
Haiti’s Foreign Minister Raina Forbin yesterday urged the U.N. Security Council to renew the 12-month mandate of an international force supporting the country’s police, saying stronger backing is needed if Haiti is to hold its first election in a decade in December. Sarah Morland reports for Reuters.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Central Bank of the Netherlands, De Nederlandsche Bank, on Wednesday said it had transferred over a quarter of its gold reserves out of the United States to the United Kingdom between March to August, citing “increasing geopolitical unrest.” The Bank of England’s bullion holdings are regarded as the “world’s most tradable and will therefore be the most readily available” should a global crisis arise. Ephrat Livni reports for the New York Times.
The State Department yesterday imposed sanctions on five Cuban companies and the grandson of Raul Castro, Fidel Ernesto Castro. The Department said it was sanctioning Ernesto Castro, for being an adult family member of other sanctioned members of the Castro family. Sanctions were also issued to a state-owned bank, two companies involved in Cuba’s nickel mining industry, and two companies active in Cuba’s energy sector. Sarah Morland reports for Reuters.
The current and former presidents of the International Criminal Court’s governing body said that efforts to isolate the Court diplomatically are “aimed at eroding… confidence in the international legal order itself,” in a joint op-ed published yesterday on Just Security. Kanishka Singh reports for Reuters.
U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS
U.S. Southern Command on Wednesday said the military intercepted and sank a vessel that was allegedly “operating as a floating refueling station” supporting drug trafficking by the Ecuadorian criminal organization Los Choneros. The vessel was cleared without incident and those on board were transferred to Ecuador’s authorities. CBS News reports.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
An official in charge of evaluating new recruits for ICE filed a whistleblower report last year to the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Homeland Security citing “unprecedented lowering of standards” for recruiting candidates into ICE ranks, the New York Times reported yesterday. In the complaint, he asked for an independent, outside investigation into the matter, and his concerns have become part of an ongoing audit into vetting practices. Alexandra Berzon, Katie Benner, and Hamed Aleaziz report.
ICE agent Christian Castro yesterday returned to custody in Texas after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of making false statements about the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Jonathan Allen report for Reuters.
The Government yesterday deported more than 100 people to Haiti. Human Rights First’s ICE Flight Monitor said that this is the third consecutive Thursday deportation flight, “marking a shift from monthly to weekly flights.” AP News reports.
U.S. TECH DEVELOPMENTS
Pentagon official Emil Michael yesterday said Anthropic is still considered a “supply chain risk,” contradicting Lutnick’s Wednesday comments that the company is “back on the right side.” Maria Curi reports for Axios.
LA District officials on Wednesday announced the city’s public school system will vastly restrict use of AI at all grade levels. Students may still see AI summaries on top of Google searches, but will not engage with Google’s Gemini chatbot, or other chatbot helpers offered within Google’s classroom software. Dana Goldstein reports for the New York Times.
META CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed concerns about plans for a national AI regulator in a previously unreported phone call with Trump last month, a senior White House official has told POLITICO. Another source said Zuckerberg did not ask Trump to not create the regulator, but told the president to appoint members to the regulator’s body that embody Trump’s own approach to AI. Sophia Cai and Charles Rollet report.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Army doctor Theresa Long told a federal court in August that she’s working with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to probe whether troops died from Covid-19 vaccines after former President Joe Biden mandated the shots for service members in 2021, in a deposition published by POLITICO yesterday. The deposition also revealed that Hegseth detailed Long to be Kennedy’s senior medical military advisor, a role which had not previously been reported. Carmen Paun and Josh Gerstein report.
Kennedy Jr. asked his new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Erica Schwartz to remove a reference to two Pennsylvania deaths from the agency’s online measles tally after he questioned whether the disease contributed to the fatalities, sources told Reuters, adding that Schwartz agreed with Kennedy’s directive and implemented it without objection. Yasmeen Abutaleb and Dan Levine report.
Florida’s Department of Transportation earlier this week banned local police from placing cameras that read license plates supplied by Flock Safety on its state highways. The department said it would revoke previous permits for the cameras and no longer issue new permits within its jurisdiction. Helen Coster reports for Reuters.
The House of Representatives yesterday passed the “Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act” to block federal aid for universities that boycott Israel. Patricia Zengerle reports for Reuters.
Founder of Apollo Global Management Leon Black yesterday sued the House Oversight Committee which had ordered him to provide Congress with copies of non-disclosure agreements as part of an investigation into the activities of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The lawsuit accuses lawmakers of exceeding their constitutional authority when they subpoenaed him to provide the agreements. Isla Binnie and Pritam Biswas report for Reuters.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) yesterday said he was informed by the Justice Department that his phone calls with a Virginia state legislator in the spring were wiretapped. Subramanyam said the wiretap was part of the DOJ’s corruption probe into Virginia Senate Leader Louise Lucas. Andrew Solender reports for Axios.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Trump yesterday said in a social media post that he was appointing assistant secretary of the Army for civil works Adam Telle as the acting U.S. Army Secretary. Reuters reports.
The Pentagon is temporarily rescinding recently published guidance on a mandatory testosterone deficiency screening policy for service members aged 30 and over, a U.S. official told Reuters yesterday. The guidance had been removed from the Pentagon’s website by Thursday. Idrees Ali and Julie Steenhuysen report.
The White House’s Office of Science and Technology pressured U.S. space companies in a call last week not to attend a global space summit in Paris organized by French President Emmanuel Macron, triggering last-minute cancellations yesterday, sources told POLITICO. Joey Roulette and Tim Hepher report for Reuters.
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service yesterday proposed new regulations that would strip schools of tax-exempt status if they offer targeted support to specific racial groups. Jack Queen reports for Reuters.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum yesterday announced that excavation work on the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck would start “over the next two-week period.” The work would begin despite legal challenges and the lack of final approval from a government planning authority. Daniel Trotta reports for Reuters.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Justice Department yesterday made an emergency request to the Supreme Court to lift a federal judge’s temporary order preventing the Postal Service from enforcing their new rule, based on Trump’s executive order, tightening the use of mail-in ballots. The Supreme Court previously lifted an injunction imposed by another federal judge in June. Andrew Chung reports for Reuters.
Former Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department for unlawful firing after she said she declined to recommend restoring gun rights to actor Mel Gibson, a vocal supporter of Trump. Oyer refused to ignore concerns surrounding Gibson, and after refusing another request from a staff member of then deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, she received termination papers. Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff reports for Reuters.
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ICYMI: Yesterday on Just Security
