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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Mediators in Gaza ceasefire talks are making a last-ditch effort today to revive stalled negotiations. Israel has sent a delegation to the talks, while Hamas has said it will not participate, although the group is willing to speak to mediators afterwards if there are “developments or a serious response from Israel,” a source said. Mostafa Salem, Nic Robertson, and Ben Wedeman report for CNN.
Israel has published plans for one of its proposed new settlements in the occupied West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said yesterday. “No anti-Israel or anti-Zionist decision will stop the development of the settlement. We will continue to fight against the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state,” Smotrich said. Steven Scheer and Ali Sawafta report for Reuters.
Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7 and over 92,400 have been injured, the Hamas-run health ministry said today. The Guardian reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
Columbia University’s president Minouche Shafik has resigned, ending a brief tenure after drawing ire over how she handled an outbreak of pro-Palestinian protests on campus last spring. Shafik is the third Ivy League president to resign in the wake of the war in Gaza. Hannah Natanson, Susan Svrluga, and Anika Arora Seth report for the Washington Post.
Israel has achieved all it can militarily in Gaza, according to U.S. officials, who say continued bombings will only increase risks to civilians, while the possibility of further weakening Hamas has diminished. National security officials say that while Israel has severely set back Hamas, it would never be able to completely eliminate the group. Helene Cooper, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt, and Adam Rasgon report for the New York Times.
Netanyahu denied reports that he spoke with former President Trump yesterday about a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Reuters reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday that Turkey will continue to support the Palestinian cause and urge the international community to increase pressure on Israel, his office said. Reuters reports.
Britain and Germany today strongly condemned the visit by Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Ukraine is using British-supplied tanks “in line with international law” in its incursion into Russia, a U.K. Defense Ministry spokesperson said today. Ukraine’s surprise offensive is continuing for a tenth day, with evacuations continuing in Kursk and Belgorod regions. Guy Faulconbridge and Maxim Rodionov report for Reuters; Matthew Luxmoore and Ann M. Simmons report for the Wall Street Journal.
A Russian court today sentenced a Russian-U.S. woman to 12 years in prison for treason after she donated just over $50 to a U.S.-based charity supporting Ukraine. Ksenia Karelina, 33, had pleaded guilty to the charges. Christian Edwards reports for CNN.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
U.S.-led peace talks aimed at ending Sudan’s 16-month civil war began in Switzerland yesterday, although neither warring party entered the negotiating room. Sudan’s army said it would boycott the talks, and while paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) sent a delegation, it declined the meeting at the last minute. Declan Walsh reports for the New York Times; Wedaeli Chibelushi, Imogen Foulkes, and Kalkidan Yibetal report for BBC News.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol today offered to establish a working-level consultative body with North Korea to “discuss ways to ease tension and resume economic cooperation.” In a National Liberation Day speech, Yoon said he was ready to start cooperation if North Korea “takes just one step” toward denuclearization. NBC News reports.
A sophisticated spear phishing campaign has been targeting Western and Russian civil society, according to a research report released yesterday by Citizen Lab. The report identified the two “threat actors” as potentially aligned with the Russian government.
A U.S. citizen was sentenced yesterday to 15 days in a Russian prison on charges of “petty hooliganism” for attacking a police officer, according to Moscow court officials. Darya Tarasova, Sergey Gudkov, Isaac Yee, Kathleen Magramo, and Colin McCullough report for CNN.
One person was killed and 10 wounded in a grenade attack thrown by insurgents outside a hotel in southwest Pakistan, officials said today. The separatist Baluch Liberation Army group claimed responsibility for the attack. AP News reports.
The U.N. human rights office released a statement yesterday, signed by 29 U.N. expert mandates, urging the international community against normalizing Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
Germany issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian man suspected of involvement in blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline nearly two years ago, Polish prosecutors said yesterday. Melissa Eddy and Julian E. Barnes report for the New York Times.
Two military bases in Germany were put under heightened security yesterday after contaminants were found in the water supply of barracks at one site. The military said sabotage is suspected. Meanwhile, NATO officials reported that an intruder tried to forcibly enter one of the alliance’s bases in the country. Sarah Maslin Nir reports for the New York Times.
A German federal court yesterday suspended a ban the government imposed last month on a “far-right extremist” magazine, ruling that it can continue publishing pending an appeal ruling. AP News reports.
China’s top diplomat yesterday visited Myanmar and met with the leader of its military government, as increasing instability from the country’s civil war strains their bilateral relations. Grant Peck reports for AP News.
North Korea will reopen one city to foreign tourists in December after nearly five years of border closures, tour operators said yesterday. Gavin Butler and Kelly Ng report for BBC News.
Sri Lanka’s elections commission today accepted applications from a record 39 candidates to contest in next month’s presidential election. Bharatha Mallawarachi reports for AP News.
U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
A hacking group associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted the personal email accounts of “roughly a dozen” people associated with the Trump and Biden campaigns in May and June, according to a Google report released yesterday. Luke Barr reports for ABC News.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss endorsing her in exchange for a promise of a cabinet post, sources say. Harris and her advisers reportedly rebuffed the offer. Michael Sherere and Josh Dawsey report for the Washington Post; Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Reid J. Epstein report for the New York Times.
A suspect has been identified in the break in at Trump’s campaign office in Virginia, authorities said yesterday. An arrest warrant is active for Toby Shane Kessler, 39. Meredith Deliso and Leah Sarnoff report for ABC News.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
A dual Egyptian-U.S. citizen who was indicted in 2022 on felony charges of acting as a foreign agent of Egypt’s government in 2019 pleaded guilty yesterday to a lesser charge. Luc Cohen reports for Reuters.
TRUMP LEGAL MATTERS
Trump’s bid to push back oral arguments in his electoral interference case against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Wills was rejected yesterday. April Rubin reports for Axios.
The judge who oversaw Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial has declined for a third time to step aside from the case. Rebuking Trump’s claims that he had a problematic connection to Kamala Harris, Justice Juan Merchan said Trump’s filing seeking his recusal is “rife with inaccuracies.” Kate Christobek and Ben Protess report for the New York Times.