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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
President Trump yesterday announced the United States would dramatically increase weapons supplies to Ukraine and impose 100% tariffs on Russia and countries that buy Russian oil if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire in the next 50 days. A source said that under the plan, the United States will sell around $10 billion in weapons to NATO allies in the first wave, who will then send the weapons on to Ukraine. Speaking to BBC News, Trump also said that he is “disappointed but not done” with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Dave Lawler and Barak Ravid report for Axios; Kevin Liptak reports for CNN; Gary O’Donoghue reports.
In a social media post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday said that he is “grateful to our team and to the United States, Germany, and Norway for preparing a new decision on Patriots for Ukraine” and added that Kyiv is “working on major defense agreements with America.” Kevin Liptak reports for CNN.
Many details of Trump’s plan to send weapons to Ukraine by selling them to NATO countries are still being worked out, according to Pentagon officials. Michael Crowley, Eric Schmitt, and Julian E. Barnes report for the New York Times.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Zelenskyy yesterday announced the start of a major cabinet reshuffle, nominating current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Yuliia Svyrydenko to lead the Ukrainian government and tapping the current Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, as the new defense minister. Veronika Melkozerova reports for POLITICO.
Moscow stock markets rose following Trump’s announcement of U.S. measures against Russia, in what the analysts say may be a sign that investors were expecting Trump to pledge even harsher measures. Will Vernon reports for BBC News.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
The Israeli defense ministry’s proposal to force hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into a contained area in Gaza’s devastated south is threatening to derail ceasefire negotiations, a senior Hamas member said, stating that the proposal “resembles a ghetto” and is a “deliberately obstructive demand.” Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert previously described the planned “humanitarian city” as amounting to a “concentration camp.” Israeli legal experts warn the plan would violate international law, and could amount to war crimes or the crime of genocide. Patrick Kingsley and Aaron Boxerman report for the New York Times; Eugenia Yosef and Oren Liebermann report for CNN; Emma Graham-Harrison reports for the Guardian.
Israeli strikes overnight into yesterday killed at least 31 people in Gaza, according to local hospitals. The Israeli military said that three Israeli soldiers were killed in northern Gaza. Separately, U.N. agencies reiterated their joint warning that without more fuel supplies, healthcare, food, and sanitation provision in Gaza would soon shut down. Wafaa Shurafa, Fatma Khaled, and Sally Abou Aljoud report for AP News.
One of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties has announced it is quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition over a dispute concerning conscription exemptions. The move would leave Netanyahu with a razor-thin majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Steven Scheer reports for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — AID SUPPLY CRISIS
The flow of aid into Gaza has not increased despite last week’s agreement between Israel and the EU, Egypt’s foreign minister said yesterday. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas yesterday said that while there have been some good signs of more trucks and supplies entering Gaza, the bloc needs to see more improvement on the ground. Reuters reports; Reuters reports.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Sectarian violence between Syria’s Bedouin groups and militias from the Druse religious minority killed at least 50 people in its second day, according to a local health official and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group. The Israeli military also said it had hit tanks deployed to the southern Sweida area by the Syrian government because their presence in there “may pose a threat to the State of Israel.” According to the Syrian defense ministry, at least 18 members of Syria’s security forces were killed yesterday. Raja Abdulrahim and Reham Mourshed report for the New York Times; Reuters reports; Abbie Cheeseman, Suzan Haidamous, and Mohamad El Chamaa report for the Washington Post.
The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary has killed almost 300 people in attacks in Sudan’s North Kordofan state that began on Saturday, the Emergency Lawyers human rights group said in a statement yesterday. Reuters reports.
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS
Chip-maker Nvidia yesterday announced that the U.S. government had approved the resumption of sales of AI chips to China, adding that the administration “has assured NVIDIA that [export] licenses will be granted.” Tripp Mickle reports for the New York Times.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on a sweeping cryptocurrency market structure overhaul and legislation that would ban a central bank digital currency tomorrow, aides say, before taking up the Senate’s stablecoin legislation on Thursday. Jasper Goodman reports POLITICO.
China is set to introduce a government-run digital ID system today that will enable Beijing to see the real identity behind online accounts across a range of sites, centralizing disaggregated information previously held by Chinese internet companies. Katrina Northrop reports for the Washington Post.
Meta will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on building AI data centres in the United States, with the first multi-gigawatt data centre expected to come online in 2026, the social media giant’s founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced. Helen Sullivan reports for BBC News.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
In its latest round of staff cuts, the State Department has trimmed personnel and consolidated offices that work on the U.S. response to Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea and efforts in AI and quantum competition, officials say. Some of those fired were employees actively working on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s policy engagements during his Asia trip last week, State officials added. Hannah Natanson, Ellen Nakashima, and Cate Cadell report for the Washington Post.
The European Union yesterday circulated the list of new retaliatory tariffs it plans to impose on U.S. goods in case no trade deal is reached by August 1, according to documents seen by the Wall Street Journal. The planned retaliatory tariffs would cover imports valued at roughly $84 billion last year. Separately, the EU’s Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic warned that Trump’s latest tariff threat risks upending trans-Atlantic trade. Kim Mackrael reports; Jeanna Smialek reports for the New York Times.
The United States has yet to respond to an offer Brazil made in trade talks in May, Brazil’s Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said yesterday. Reuters reports.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told agents that immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally are no longer eligible for a bond hearing as they fight deportation proceedings in court, according to a July memo reviewed by the Washington Post. Proceedings challenging deportation proceedings can take months or years. Maria Sacchetti and Carol D. Leonnig report.
The Trump administration on Friday dismissed 15 immigration judges, adding to the growing list of immigration court personnel let go amid a drive to speed up the immigration crackdown, according to sources and a union that represents immigration judges. Ximena Bustillo reports for NPR.
A magistrate judge in Louisiana yesterday ordered the release of Pouria Pourhosseinhendabad, an Iranian doctoral student arrested following the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last month. The judge also barred officials from trying to deport him, finding that the student had established “a grave risk” of irreparable harm. Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The Senate yesterday voted 46-42 to confirm Whitney Hermandorfer of Tennessee to a seat on the Cincinnati-based U.S. Court of Appeals, the first Senate confirmation of a federal judge in Trump’s second term. Hermandorfer’s background drew criticism from Democrats, with the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), suggesting she has a “shocking” lack of experience for such a powerful post and noting that she had ducked questions on whether Trump lost the 2020 election. Carl Hulse reports for the New York Times.
A panel of federal judges yesterday announced they had declined to permanently appoint interim U.S. Attorney John Sarcone to a permanent position, without providing reasons for its decision. Sarcone, appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi on an interim basis in March, last week told a news outlet that he was being reappointed. Brendan J. Lyons reports for the Times Union.
More than 75 former federal and state judges today called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject the nomination of Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to an appeals court judgeship, citing Bove’s “egregious record of mistreating law enforcement officers, abusing power, and disregarding the law.” Piper Hudspeth Blackburn and Jamie Gangel report for CNN.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday announced he has decided to run in the general election as an independent for New York City Mayor, following his loss to State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary. Jeffery C. Mays and Emma G. Fitzsimmons report for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Defense Department yesterday announced it would start using xAI’s chatbot Grok under a “Grok for Government” program that allows agencies and federal offices to adopt the chatbot for their specific uses. Apart from xAI, DOD also said it awarded contracts to Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, with each contract subject to a $200 million ceiling. Grok came under scrutiny last week after numerous antisemitic posts on X, including a post calling itself “MechaHitler.” Faiz Siddiqui reports for the Washington Post; Sareen Habeshian reports for Axios; Lisa Hagen, Huo Jingnan, and Audrey Nguyen report for NPR.
The Defense Department Inspector General’s Office and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) are both investigating Ricky Buria, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s senior aide, sources say. The separate investigations are examining Buria’s involvement in bypassing the agency’s security protocols to set up Signal for Hegseth and the potential leaking of information, the sources add. The OSI is also investigating whether Hegseth’s personal attorney and top adviser, Tim Parlatore, attended meetings beyond his clearance level. Daniel Lippman and Jack Detsch report for POLITICO.
The Pentagon yesterday abruptly cancelled its participation in the Aspen Security Forum, a national security and foreign policy conference in Colorado. A Pentagon spokesperson said senior DOD representatives “will no longer be participating in an event that promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country and hatred for the president of the United States.” Eric Schmitt reports for the New York Times.
NASA yesterday announced it aborted plans to house authoritative, peer-reviewed national climate assessments on its websites following their removal from official government websites, stating that it has no legal obligation to host the data. Seth Borenstein reports for AP News.
The Veterans Affairs Department has reported spurious savings to DOGE, claiming credit for canceling contracts that had expired or that had not actually been canceled, according to the New York Times’ review of DOGE’s Wall of Receipts. DOGE then further amplified the alleged value of savings at the agency, the review adds. David A. Fahrenthold, Nicholas Nehamas, and Jeremy Singer-Vine report for the New York Times.
In a May meeting, a DOGE representative told Nuclear Regulatory Commission leaders that the agency will be expected to “rubber stamp” new nuclear reactors approved by the Departments of Energy or Defense, sources say. Francisco “A.J.” Camacho and Peter Behr report for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Supreme Court yesterday lifted a lower court injunction prohibiting the Trump administration from proceeding with mass firings at the Education Department while proceedings challenging the move’s legality continue. The majority’s brief, unsigned order offered no reasons for the decision. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented, holding that “when the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law … it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it.” Within two hours of the decision being handed down, the Education Department sent notices to employees indicating it was immediately resuming its plans to shrink the department. Josh Gerstein, Juan Perez Jr, and Rebecca Carballo report for POLITICO; Devan Cole, John Fritze, and Sunlen Serfaty report for CNN.
A federal appeals court yesterday issued an administrative order staying the Trump administration’s attempt to terminate deportation protections for thousands of Afghans living in the United States until July 21 while proceedings challenging the move continue. Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times.
A coalition of 24 states and the District of Columbia yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s decision to freeze more than $6 billion in federal education grants for K-12 schools and adult education. Sequoia Carrillo reports for NPR.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
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ICYMI: yesterday on Just Security
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U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nominee Waltz Faces Senate Vote as the Global Body Reels
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