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A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Portugal yesterday announced they now formally recognize Palestinian statehood. The series of statements came on the eve of the annual U.N. General Assembly this week, during which France has pledged to vote for recognition of a Palestinian state. Israel and the United States will boycott the U.N. summit, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the leaders who recognize a Palestinian state are “giving a huge reward to terrorism” and the international community “will hear from us on this matter in the following days.” Mark Landler reports for the New York Times; Dana Karni and Oren Liebermann report for CNN; John Irish and Michelle Nichols report for Reuters.
The U.N. General Assembly on Friday voted to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address the Assembly using a video link, after the United States said it would not grant him a visa to attend the gathering in New York. Michelle Nichols reports for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
The Trump administration is seeking Congressional approval for a sale of weapons to Israel worth nearly £6 billion, sources say. According to the sources and documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, the arms would be paid for by the U.S.-provided foreign military financing, and would likely not be delivered for two to three years. Jared Malsin and Robbie Gramer report.
President Trump plans to meet a group of Arab and Muslim leaders tomorrow on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting to discuss ending the war in Gaza, according to two Arab officials. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Netanyahu has asked the Trump administration to put pressure on Egypt for Cairo to scale down a recent military buildup in the Sinai Peninsula, according to a U.S. official and two Israeli officials. Netanyahu claimed Egypt was carrying out activities that amounted to substantial violations of its 1979 peace agreement with Israel, for which the United States serves as guarantor. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli forces yesterday blew up more residential buildings in Gaza City, killing at least 40 Palestinians and prompting many others to flee, according to Gaza’s health officials. Nidal Al-Mughrabi reports for Reuters; Samy Magdy reports for AP News.
Israel yesterday kept the main border route for Palestinians to cross from the occupied West Bank into Jordan closed, days after a Jordanian truck driver killed two Israeli soldiers. It is not clear when the Israeli Airports Authority, which oversees the country’s crossings, plans to reopen the route. Fatima AbdulKarim reports for the New York Times.
Qatar wants an apology from Israel for its strike on Doha before it resumes its mediation on a Gaza peace deal, sources say. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
NATO intercepted three Russian jets over Estonia’s airspace on Friday, which had entered without permission and remained there for 12 minutes. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised the alliance’s response as “quick and decisive.” Russia’s defense ministry denied that its jets had entered Estonian airspace and instead claimed that they flew over “the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea.” The Estonian Prime Minister announced that he has requested NATO Article 4 consultation following the incursion. Sophie Tanno reports for CNN; Jaroslav Lukiv and Joe Inwood report for BBC News.
Germany’s air force yesterday sent two jets to track a Russian aircraft that had entered neutral airspace over the Baltic Sea. “Our quick reaction alert force […] was tasked by NATO with investigating an unidentified aircraft without a flight plan or radio contact in international airspace” Germany’s air force said. Reuters reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced a fresh package of Russian sanctions on Friday, saying “it is time to turn off the tap.” The package includes a plan to phase out purchases of Russian natural gas by the beginning of 2027, a year sooner than planned. The plan needs to be approved by EU members states. Jeanna Smialek reports for the New York Times.
The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting today on Russian incursions into Estonian airspace, U.N. and Estonian officials say. Nina Subkhanberdina reports for CNN.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Russia plans to intervene in Moldovan elections and disrupt the Moldovan government’s plan for EU membership, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. The documents show that Russia intended to employ Moldovans abroad to vote, stage disruptive protests, and begin a widespread disinformation campaign on social media. The strategy was agreed in spring and coordinated directly by the Kremlin in order to undermine President Maia Sandu’s Party of Action and Solidarity chances of winning on 28 September. Bloomberg has been unable to confirm whether Russia is implementing these plans ahead of the election next Sunday. Alberto Nardelli reports.
Nepal’s new Prime Minister Suhsila Karki established a three-member judicial commission on Sunday to investigate the killings of more than 70 people by the Nepalese armed forces during the student protests that began earlier this month, as well as arson and the looting of properties carried out by protestors. Bhadra Sharma reports for the New York Times.
A drone strike on a mosque last Friday has killed more than 70 people in El-Fashr, Sudan, a senior medical source told BBC News. The source said 78 people had died and about 20 others were injured, but the process of extracting bodies from the building was ongoing. No entity claimed responsibility for the attack. Barabara Plett-Usher and Peter Mwai report.
The International Court of Justice said on Friday that Mali’s application to file a case against Algeria over the shooting down of a Malian military drone by Algerian forces can only proceed if Algeria accepts the ICJ’s jurisdiction. Stephanie van den Berg reports for Reuters.
An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon yesterday has killed five people, including three children. Lebanon’s Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, claimed in a statement yesterday that four U.S. citizens were killed in the strike, while a State Department spokesperson said “while the situation is fluid, so far, indications are that the five killed were not U.S. citizens.” The IDF posted that it had “struck and eliminated” a Hezbollah operator and acknowledged that “several uninvolved civilians” were also killed. Mohammed Tawfeeq and Charbel Mallo report for CNN.
The U.N. Security Council decided on Friday to implement “snapback” sanctions on Iran, with the sanctions coming into effect on September 27, 2025. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
The EU’s cybersecurity agency said today that airport disruptions that affected automated check-in systems provided by Collins Aerospace over the last few days were caused by a ransomware attack. Without saying where the attack came from, the ENISA agency said in a statement that “law enforcement is involved to investigate” the malicious software that locks up data until the victim pays to have access restored. Reuters reports.
The High Seas Treaty was ratified by Morocco on Friday, the 60th nation to do so, crossing the threshold for U.N. treaties to go into effect. It is the first legal framework aimed at protecting biodiversity in international waters, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of the ocean. The United States has yet to ratify the instrument. Max Bearak reports for the New York Times; Annika Hammerschlag reports for AP News.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
The Washington-Beijing Tiktok deal will ensure that U.S. companies control the algorithm in the U.S. version of the app, the White House announced on Saturday. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the tech giant Oracle will be responsible for the app’s data and security, and U.S. companies will control six of the seven board seats. Aamer Madhani reports for AP News.
Trump said in an interview on Sunday that Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, the chief executive of Fox Corporation, may be among the investors involved in bringing TikTok under U.S. ownership. A source confirmed that the potential investment would be made by the Fox Corporation. Lauren Hirsch and Emmett Lindner report for the New York Times.
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) have launched a joint lab in the UAE that will focus on developing next-generation AI models and robotics, the TII announced today. This will be the first Nvidia AI technology centre in the Middle East. Frederico Maccioni reports for Reuters.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS — COUNTERNARCOTICS POLICY
The U.S. military has conducted a third strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, Trump said on Friday, asserting that U.S. intelligence had “confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics” to the United States and that three people were killed. The real goal of the military buildup in the Caribbean is to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power, according to several current and former military officials, diplomats, and intelligence officers. Andrew Jeong reports for the Washington Post; Barak Ravid reports for Axios; Eric Schmitt reports for the New York Times.
Drug Enforcement Administration officials earlier this year advocated for a series of military strikes in Mexico targeting cartel leadership and infrastructure there, sources say. The DEA proposals, supported by DEA’s then-acting administrator, Derek S. Maltz, drew pushback from the White House and Pentagon, the sources add. Dan Lamothe and Ellen Nakashima report for the Washington Post.
Maduro wrote to Trump days after the first U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat in early September, offering to engage in direct talks with U.S. Special Envoy Richard Grenell, according to a letter shared on Telegram by Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez. Trump yesterday declined to confirm he had received Maduro’s letter. Stefano Pozzebon reports for CNN.
Dominican Republic authorities yesterday said that they have recovered 377 packages of cocaine from a speedboat that was destroyed recently by the U.S. Navy. The officials from the Dominican Republic’s National Directorate for Drug Control said they worked in collaboration with U.S. authorities to locate the vessel. Manuel Rueda reports for AP News.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Trump administration officials are in talks with the Taliban about re-establishing a small U.S. military presence at Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base as a “launch point” for counterterrorism operations, sources say. According to a U.S. official, the talks include a potential prisoner exchange, economic deal, and a security component. Lara Seligman and Michael R. Gordon report for the Wall Street Journal.
The Senate on Friday confirmed Michael Waltz, a former national security adviser, to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Trump removed Walz from the post of security adviser amid the fallout from the revelation that Walz inadvertently invited a journalist to a Signal group chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other top officials discussed the details of a military operation in Yemen. Megan Mineiro reports for the New York Times.
Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States, Alexander Yui, this month privately met with the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, a group that officials say has emerged as a key White House power node. A White House official downplayed the encounter, describing it as an informal conversation. Gram Slattery and Trevor Hunnicutt report for Reuters.
South Korea would agree to a deal between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in which Pyongyang would agree to freeze production of its nuclear weapons, rather than get rid of them, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told BBC News. Jean Mackenzie reports.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday that Budapest will designate Antifa as a terrorist organization “following the American example.” Christian Edwards reports for CNN.
European leaders are privately furious about U.S. interventions in their domestic affairs, and increasingly believe that Trump’s aides are pressing for regime change in Europe, aiming to replace governments of the center-left and center-right with coalitions of the far right, the New York Times reports. Steven Erlanger reports.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Trump on Saturday demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi move to prosecute several of his political opponents, urging the prosecutions of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), former FBI director James B. Comey and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA). In a series of social media posts, Trump claimed all three were “guilty as hell” and “impeached [him] twice and indicted [him] 5 times, over nothing.” Trump also claimed he had fired U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of Virginia Erik Siebert, who on Friday resigned after being pressured to launch an investigation into James. Bondi appointed Mary “Maggie” Cleary, an assistant U.S. attorney who once claimed she was “framed” for being at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to lead the office on an interim basis. Jeremy Roebuck, Perry Stein, and Salvador Rizzo report for the Washington Post; Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report for POLITICO.
Trump said that he would nominate senior White House aide Lindsey Halligan to replace Siebert. Halligan served as one of Trump’s attorneys in the early days of the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Alanna Durkin Richer and Meg Kinnard report for AP News.
The Trump administration has shut down a bribery investigation into Tom Homan accepting a bag with $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents last year, according to sources. Homan apparently took the money and agreed to help the agents, posing as businessmen, to secure future government contracts related to border security. FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the investigation to end over the summer, a source said, while a different source said that Emil Bove, a former senior DOJ official who is now a federal appeals court judge, said the case was an example of a “deep state operation” when he was briefed on the it in February. Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that DOJ prosecutors and FBI agents “found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing” while investigating. Devlin Barrett, Glenn Thrush. Alan Feuer, Maggie Haberman, and Hamed Aleaziz report for the New York Times; Sarah N. Lynch reports for Reuters.
The Defense Department on Friday said it would require journalists to pledge that they will not gather any information, including unclassified information, that has not been expressly “authorized” for release. Under the new policy, the DOD will revoke the press credentials of the reporters who possess confidential or unauthorized information. The announcement drew widespread condemnation from members of the press. Scott Nover reports for the Washington Post; David Cohen reports for POLITICO.
The Agriculture Department on Saturday announced it is cancelling the government’s annual report measuring household food insecurity, the federal government’s main gauge of U.S. residents’ ability to access adequate meals. Announcing the move, the Agriculture Department said the report had become “overly politicized, and … unnecessary to carry out the work of the department.” Dan Frosch, Patrick Thomas, and Andrea Petersen report for the Wall Street Journal.
The Securities and Exchange Commission last week dropped civil enforcement cases against Devon Archer, Trevor Milton, and Carlos Watson, three men convicted of large-scale white-collar fraud whose sentences Trump pardoned or commuted. The SEC decision to drop the cases means they will not have to pay any additional civil penalties to the government or face restrictions on work in securities-related positions. Kenneth P. Vogel reports for the New York Times.
The Treasury Department has ordered the Taxpayer Advisory Panel, a federal advisory committee for the IRS, to suspend public meetings while the White House vets its membership, according to an email seen by POLITICO. A panel member said that at least two members of the panel are stepping down because of the White House vetting directive. Danny Nguyen reports.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
Trump signed an executive order on Friday to impose a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas beginning yesterday. Amazon, Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and others warned existing H-1B holders not to leave the country and urged overseas employees to return to avoid difficulty re-entering, according to notes seen by the Wall Street Journal. The White House announced on Saturday that the change only applies to new visas. Alejandra Jaramillo and Adam Cancryn report for CNN; Chip Cutter, Amrith Ramkumar and Ray A. Smith report for the Wall Street Journal; Myah Ward and Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing report for POLITICO.
The Trump administration announced on Friday that it would terminate protections for around six thousand Syrians living in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status program. The Homeland Security Department said that Syrian nationals will have 60 days to voluntarily leave the United States, after which they will be subject to arrest and deportation, and that “conditions in Syria no longer prevent their nationals from returning home.” Washington Post
Journalist Mario Guevara is facing imminent deportation to El Salvador as an immigration appeals court has closed his case and ordered his removal. An immigration judge earlier ordered his release on bond and a clear legal path to residency. George Chidi reports for the Guardian.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
A judge in Florida threw out Trump’s defamation suit against the New York Times on Friday. The judge called the 85-page complaint “improper and impermissible” in its current form as it failed to contain a “short and plain statement of claim,” providing Trump with 28 days to refile. Michael M. Grynbaum reports for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A district judge directed Meta on Friday not to provide personal information of Instagram users accused of releasing personal details about a border officer to the DHS, pending further order from the court that would rule on the legality of the DHS’ subpoenas seeking the names and other personal information of accounts that posted the name of the border agent. Alfred NG reports for POLITICO.
The Justice Department filed an appeal on Friday asking the Supreme Court to let it limit passport sex markers for nonbinary and transgender people by removing the use of “X” as an identification marker for gender. Lindsay Whitehurst reports for AP News; Devan Cole and John Fritze report for CNN.
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