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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Iran is using covert social media activity and undercover influence operations in a bid to undercut former President Trump’s candidacy, the Office of the Director of Intelligence said yesterday. The efforts appear to be at cross-purposes with a simultaneous attempt by Russia to influence the election in Trump’s favor, even as the two countries have forged closer ties during the Ukraine war. Sean Lyngaas reports for CNN; Olivia Gazis reports for CBS News.
The Kremlin is relying on unwitting Americans to spread disinformation about the U.S. presidential race, top intelligence officials said yesterday. “The American public should know that content that they read online — especially on social media — could be foreign propaganda,” an official said. David Klepper reports for AP News.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) has withdrawn from consideration as Vice President Harris’s running mate. Brett Samuels reports for The Hill.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
President Biden said yesterday that U.S. courts were being weaponized as part of an “extreme and unchecked” conservative agenda. Speaking at his first public engagement since announcing his decision to end his presidential campaign, Biden said he would push for reforms that would bring major changes to the Supreme Court, including term limits and an enforceable code of ethics for justices. Katie Rogers reports for the New York Times.
ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH TENSIONS
Concerns about an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah are “exaggerated,” even as Israeli officials signal that a fierce retaliation could come soon, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said yesterday, citing “conversations we’ve been having.” Matt Berg and Miles Herszenhorn report for POLITICO.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Far-right protesters in Israel broke into a military base holding Palestinian detainees after nine reservists were detained in connection to allegations of “serious abuse of a detainee.” It came after ultranationalist politicians, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, posted on X, “get your hands off the reservists.” The incident was the most serious political violence in Israel since Oct. 7. Barak Ravid reports for Axios; Louisa Loveluck and Miriam Berger report for the Washington Post.
Thousands of Palestinians fled a community in central Gaza yesterday following new Israeli evacuation orders. Meanwhile, Hamas accused Israel of blocking a ceasefire, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had added new conditions to a longstanding proposal at the latest talks. Israel denied Hamas’s claims that it had changed its ceasefire conditions. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Ramadan Abed report for Reuters; Benjamin Brown reports for CNN.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González yesterday said his campaign has proof he defeated President Maduro in the country’s disputed election. González and opposition leader Marian Corina Machado told reporters they have obtained more than 70% of tally sheets from Sunday’s election, and they show González with more than double Maduro’s votes. Meanwhile, protests have erupted in Venezuela’s capital over the results. Joshua Goodman and Regina Garcia Cano report for AP News; Frances Robles, Jack Nicas, and Alejandro Cegarra report for the New York Times.
Three children were killed and eight injured in a mass stabbing at a dance class in northern England yesterday. A teenage suspect has been arrested, and a police investigation is underway. The Guardian reports; Niha Masih and William Booth report for the Washington Post.
Security officers had to fire shots to cover Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille’s exit from a hospital in Port-au-Prince yesterday, the prime minister’s office said. Conille was visiting Haiti’s largest hospital with journalists and the head of the national police when shots were heard. No deaths or injuries were reported. AP News reports.
South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma has been expelled from the African National Congress, the party he once led, after campaigning for a rival party in the May general election. The ANC’s disciplinary committee found Zuma guilty of “prejudicing the integrity” of the party by joining uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK). Mallory Moench and Basillioh Rukanga report for BBC News.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will announce $500 million in military funding today to strengthen Philippine defenses and advance a proposed military intelligence-sharing pact, a Philippine official said. Jim Gomez and Matthew Lee report for AP News.
Dozens of Russian mercenaries were killed in an attack in Mali by Tuareg rebels last week, in what appeared to be one of the deadliest attacks on Russian personnel on the continent since Moscow first sent Wager Group fighters there in 2017. Benoit Faucon, Bojan Pancevski, and Michael Phillips report for the Wall Street Journal.
Far-left saboteurs were likely behind the burning of rail lines in France last week that paralyzed the country’s train network hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, France’s interior minister said yesterday. Noemie Bisserbe reports for the Wall Street Journal.
Russia’s navy began planned exercises involving 20,000 personnel and 300 ships in the Arctic and Pacific oceans and the Baltic and Caspian seas, the defense ministry said today. Guy Faulconbridge and Lidia Kelly report for Reuters.
Thousands of people rallied in towns across Serbia yesterday to protest a lithium excavation project the government recently signed with the E.U. Ivana Bzganovic reports for AP News.
Guatemala’s government yesterday said it has given temporary residency on humanitarian grounds to 207 Mexicans, mostly children, after they fled across the border last week to escape violence. AP News reports.
A rescue operation is underway in the southern Indian state of Kerala after major landslides killed at least 57 people and injured hundreds, officials said today. Esha Mitra, Kunal Sehgal, Sandi Sidhu, Robert Shackelford, and Lex Harvey report for CNN.
TRUMP RALLY SHOOTING
Trump has agreed to be interviewed by the FBI as part of its investigation into the motives of the gunman who tried to assassinate him at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe is also set to testify today before a joint Senate panel about the Secret Service’s communications and security arrangements that were put in place at the rally. Glenn Thrush reports for the New York Times; Pierre Thomas and Luke Barr report for ABC News.
Thomas Crooks made dozens of gun-related purchases and gathered bomb-making materials more than a year ago, FBI officials said yesterday. Sadie Gurman and C. Ryan Barber report for the Wall Street Journal.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
The United States will send $1.7 billion in military aid to Ukraine, officials announced yesterday. The package includes $1.5 billion in funding for long-term contracts, and $200 million in immediate military aid taken from Pentagon stockpiles. Lolita Baldor reports for AP News.
French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday warned his new Iranian counterpart Massoud Pezeshkian against Iran’s continuing support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Elysee palace said in a statement. Reuters reports.