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A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Since late spring 2025, the Pentagon has been blocking Ukraine from using U.S. missiles to strike targets inside Russia, according to U.S. officials. The halt resulted from the introduction of a high-level procedure developed by the DOD Undersecretary for Policy Elbridge Colby that gives Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth the final say on Kyiv’s requests to fire U.S.-made weapons, or weapons that rely on U.S. intelligence, to strike inside Russia. The officials said that Ukraine’s request to use U.S.-made long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems on a target in Russia has been rejected on at least one occasion. Alexander Ward, Michael R. Gordon, and Lara Seligman report for the Wall Street Journal.
President Trump on Friday said that he would know “which way [he’s going]” on the Russia-Ukraine conflict in “two weeks,” a shift from his earlier projection of confidence that the war between the countries could be brought to an end quickly amid stalled peace talks momentum. Kit Maher reports for CNN.
Canada backs Ukraine’s calls for robust security guarantees and does not rule out sending troops under a peacekeeping framework, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to Kyiv yesterday. Max Hunder reports for Reuters.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
“Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told NBC News on Friday, adding that no meeting is planned between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. Trump last week suggested that Putin and Zelenskyy had agreed to meet and that he was making preparations for their imminent summit. Freddie Clayton reports; Tyler Pager and Ashley Ahn report for the New York Times.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
An Israeli strike on Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital killed 19 people today, including four journalists, the head of Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry’s records department said. AP News, Reuters, and Al-Jazeera confirmed their journalists and freelancers were killed in the attack. Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, and Sam Metz report for AP News; Wafaa Shurafa and Melanie Lidman report for AP News.
The IDF’s Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, has reportedly said that there is a “deal on the table” for the remaining hostages in Gaza that the Israeli military had brought about the conditions for, according to Israel’s Channel 13 News outlet. Channel 13 News reports that Zamir added that the deal is now in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hands. Israel’s security cabinet is expected to discuss the latest ceasefire and hostage deal proposal tomorrow. Yolande Knell and Ruth Comerford report for BBC News.
Israeli forces yesterday opened fire on a crowd traveling through a military zone south of Gaza City to reach a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution point, killing four Palestinian aid-seekers, the Al-Awda Hospital and witnesses said. Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, and Sam Metz report for AP News.
Israeli planes and tanks pounded the buildings and homes on the eastern and northern outskirts of Gaza City over the weekend, according to residents. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz yesterday vowed to press on with the offensive on the city, where conditions of famine were confirmed on Friday. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Lili Bayer report for Reuters.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Israel yesterday struck the Yemeni capital Sanaa in retaliation for the Houthi rebels’ firing of missiles towards Israel, killing six people and wounding 86 others, according to a tally published by a Houthi health official on social media. Reuters reports.
The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary yesterday killed at least 13 people in Sudan’s Darfur region, with those killed being women, children, or elderly, the Sudan Doctors Network medical group said. The group alleged the attack was ethnically motivated. Samy Magdy reports for AP News.
Syria’s first post-Assad parliamentary election, scheduled for September, will be delayed in the southern province of Sweida and two other provinces due to security concerns, Syria’s SANA news agency reported yesterday, citing the Damascus electoral commission. According to SANA’s report, the election will be held in the provinces once there is a “safe environment to do so,” with the seats allocated to the three provinces remaining vacant in the meantime. Reuters reports.
FEDERALIZATION OF D.C. POLICING
The Defense Department has been planning a military deployment to Chicago that would have parallels to Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles for weeks, the Washington Post reports, citing officials. Trump on Friday said that he planned to target Chicago and New York next in the federal crackdown on crime, adding that the White House is “willing to” bring in “the regular military” if it “has to.” The Chicago mayor’s office on Saturday said it was working with Illinois’ governor and Cook County to evaluate legal options “to protect the people of Chicago from unconstitutional federal overreach.” Dan Lamothe reports; Luke Broadwater and Julie Bosman report for the New York Times; Shaquille Brewster, Selina Guevara, and Marlene Lenthang report for NBC News.
The National Guard members deployed to Washington, D.C., started carrying firearms yesterday, according to a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force carrying out the mission. In a statement, the task force said that under the military’s rules, force should be used “only as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week authorized the troops to begin carrying weapons. Jonathan J. Cooper, Leah Askarinam, and Konstantin Toropin report for AP News; Zachary Cohen reports for CNN.
Trump yesterday threatened to send troops to Baltimore, describing the city as “out of control” and “crime ridden” in response to an invitation by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) to join city officials to walk the streets and discuss public safety in September. Daniel Wu reports for the Washington Post.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The Trump administration is in “the very early stages of an ongoing investigation” into Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, Vice President JD Vance said on Friday, while denying that the probe was retribution for Bolton’s criticism of Trump. The information that provided the basis for a court warrant for the FBI’s Friday search of Bolton’s home reportedly involved the mishandling of classified material by Bolton and was based on intelligence collected overseas by the CIA, sources suggest. Commenting on the developments, the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board opined that it is “hard to see the raid as anything other than vindictive … The real offender here is a President who seems to think he can use the powers of his office to run vendettas.” Alexandra Marquez reports for NBC News; Julian E. Barnes reports for the New York Times.
The “overwhelming majority” of documents on Jeffrey Epstein that the Justice Department shared with the House Oversight Committee in response to a subpoena had already been publicly released, according to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the top Democrat on the panel. Garcia said that only 3% of the files received by the Committee contained new information, adding that there is “no excuse for incomplete disclosures.” A Republican spokesperson for the committee said that more documents are forthcoming from the DOJ. Catie Edmondson reports for the New York Times.
The Republican-controlled Texas state Senate on Saturday voted to approve a new election map designed to help Republicans retain their narrow U.S. House majority in the 2026 midterms, sending the law to Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for his signature. Patrick Marley reports for the Washington Post.
U.S. FOREIGN DEVELOPMENTS
The French foreign ministry yesterday announced it had summoned U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner in response to Kushner’s publication of an open letter accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of failing to combat a “dramatic rise of antisemitism” in France. The ministry described Kushner’s letter as containing “unacceptable” allegations that violate the international law “duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of states.” Zoya Sheftalovich reports for POLITICO.
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack yesterday met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel to discuss Syria and Lebanon, according to Israeli and U.S. officials. Barrack also met with Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Defense Minister Israel Katz, the sources added. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Canada will drop some of its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods from September 1, while keeping levies on cars, steel, and aluminium, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday. Carney made the announcement a day after speaking with Trump for the first time since the two countries missed Trump’s deadline to reach a trade agreement. Nadine Yousif reports for BBC News.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
The number of people in immigration detention is at a record high, soaring by more than 50% since Trump took office, according to an Axios review of the government data. The official numbers are likely to be an undercount, a staff attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights suggested. Brittany Gibson and Russell Contreras report.
Kilmar Ábrego García’s attorneys on Saturday alleged the Justice Department is pressuring him to accept a guilty plea by threatening to deport Ábrego García to Uganda. Ben Johansen and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday fired the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, who was chief of the Navy Reserve, and Rear Adm. Jamie Sands, who oversaw Naval Special Warfare Command, according to Pentagon officials and a senator. Lawmakers were told that Hegseth fired Gen. Kruse over a “loss of confidence” in the senior officer, two congressional officials said. The Pentagon has not provided an explanation for Lacore and Sands’ firings. The Defense Intelligence Agency in June drafted a preliminary report that contradicted Trump’s claim that U.S. strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites. Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt report for the New York Times.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender left the Trump administration last week after frustrating Trump and feuding with then-IRS commissioner Billy Long, sources say. According to the sources, Trump became convinced that Faulkender was too aligned with the views of former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and insufficiently aligned with Trump’s vision. Brian Schwartz, Alexander Ward, and Richard Rubin report for the Wall Street Journal.
The Homeland Security Department told a nonprofit watchdog group it has not maintained text message data among top officials since April 9 in response to public records requests, the American Oversight nonprofit said. A senior DHS official yesterday said the agency maintains a record of text messages, without commenting on why the department told the nonprofit otherwise while denying the records requests. Minho Kim reports for the New York Times.
The Justice Department last month told Congress it would not defend a legal challenge to a decades-old grant program for colleges with large numbers of Hispanic students, according to a letter released on Friday. The notice claims that the program provides an “unconstitutional” advantage based on race or ethnicity, citing a 2023 Supreme Court decision which said that “outright racial balancing” is “patently unconstitutional.” Collin Binkley and Jocelyn Gecker report for AP News.
The IRS is reversing its layoff plans and offering jobs back to some of its employees who took DOGE’s “fork in the road” deferred resignation offer ahead of the tax season, according to an IRS employee. In an email to IRS managers, the agency’s human capital officers cited “potential gap in mission critical expertise” as the rationale for the move. Natalie Alms and Eric Katz report for the Government Executive; Emily Peck reports for Axios.
Health and Human Services Department officials on Friday confirmed the agency is ending its recognition of unions for thousands of its employees, and is reclaiming office space and equipment previously used for union activities. Mike Stobbe reports for AP News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked several parts of the Trump administration’s new health insurance exchange enrollment and eligibility rules, days before they were due to take effect. The judge ruled that the order is in the public interest as the blocked rules were likely contrary to federal law and eliminating coverage “for an estimated 1.8 million people will drive up costs for the insured and lead to a significant decrease in the quality of care for the newly uninsured,” as well as strain city-run healthcare budgets. Devan Cole and Tami Luhby report for CNN.
In a Friday order, a federal judge extended the scope of an order blocking the Trump administration from denying funding to dozens of “sanctuary” cities that limit local law enforcement participation in immigration enforcement. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.
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