A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR – CEASEFIRE AND HOSTAGES AND PRISONER RELEASE
“The defense establishment clarifies that, contrary to reports, the Rafah Crossing did not open today,” an Israeli security official told ABC News. “Preparations are ongoing” for its opening for the exit and entry of Palestinians in Gaza only. Another security official told the BBC that “humanitarian aid will not pass through the Rafah crossing” as “no such agreement has been reached at any stage.” Aid is entering Gaza through other crossings such as the Kerem Shalom crossing. Yesterday, Israeli officials suggested that the Rafah crossing was staying closed due to Hamas’s failure to hand over more bodies of the hostages. ABC News reports; BBC News reports; Maayan Lubell reports for Reuters.
The International Committee of the Red Cross yesterday said that it may take considerable time to hand over remains of the dead Israeli hostages still in Gaza, calling it a “massive challenge” given the difficulties of finding bodies under the rubble. “The search for human remains is obviously an even bigger challenge than having the people alive being released,” an ICRC spokesperson said. Emma Farge reports for Reuters.
Four more bodies were returned to Israel late last night by Hamas. The Israeli military said that the National Institute of Forensic Medicine has identified three of the bodies as Israeli hostages but has concluded that one of the bodies is not an Israeli hostage. Hamas is expected to return more remains today, according to an Israeli source. 21 bodies remain in Gaza at the time of writing. Deva Lee and Lauren Kent report for CNN; Melanie Lidman and Samy Magdy report for AP News.
Israel yesterday returned the remains of 45 unidentified deceased Palestinians to Gaza. Director of Hospitals at the Ministry of Health in Gaza Dr Mohammad Zaqout said that a team of specialists has been formed to identify the 45 bodies. BBC News reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS – POLITICAL RESPONSE
U.S. President Donald Trump said yesterday that “If [Hamas] don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.” Trump added that this had been communicated to Hamas through intermediaries and that Hamas had agreed to disarm, as per his 20-point peace proposal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that “all hell breaks loose” if Hamas does not disarm. Steve Holland reports for Reuters; BBC News reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russia’s Federal Security Service intelligence service yesterday announced a broad terrorism investigation into nearly two dozen antiwar Russians, accusing the Russian Antiwar Committee group of plotting to overthrow the government. Nataliya Vasilyeva reports for the New York Times.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday revoked the Ukrainian citizenship of the Odesa Mayor, Hennady Trukhanov, on the ground that Trukhanov was a citizen of Russia, Ukraine’s security services said. The move effectively pushes Trukhanov out of office and marks the most significant escalation yet in a feud between the national authorities in Kyiv and opposition local leaders across Ukraine. Trukhanov denied holding Russian citizenship and said he would appeal the decision before Ukraine’s Supreme Court. Constant Méheut reports for the New York Times.
Russian drones hit a U.N. humanitarian convoy that was delivering aid to a front-line area in southern Ukraine, according to the U.N.’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ukraine. The OCHA said that two World Food Programme trucks were damaged, but that nobody was injured. Reuters reports.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
The Madagascan parliament yesterday voted to impeach President Andry Rajoelina. “We are taking power,” Colonel Michael Randrianirina, leader of an elite Madagascan military unit, told reporters outside of the presidential palace. Madagascar’s senior court has invited Randrianirina to serve as the country’s new president. Nqobile Ntshangase, Brian Inganga, Sarah Tetaud, and Gerald Imray report for AP News; Reuters reports.
Syria’s former Assad regime carried out a secret operation from 2019 to 2021 to move thousands of bodies from one of Syria’s largest mass graves in Qutafyah to a remote location in the desert, a Reuters investigation found. A witness said that the purpose of “Operation Move Earth” was to cover up the Assad government’s crimes and help restore its image. Maggie Michael, Fera Dalatey, Ryan McNeill, and Khallil Ashawi report.
International Criminal Court appeal judges on October 2 disqualified chief prosecutor Karim Khan from the case against former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte due to a possible conflict of interest, according to a decision seen by Reuters. The Judges granted the defense request to disqualify Khan on the basis that his representation of the chair of Philippines Human Rights Commission in naming Duterte as a suspect meant that he could not conduct an impartial investigation. Stephanie van den Berg and Anthony Deutsch report.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
The State Department announced yesterday that it has revoked the visas of at least six individuals for their comments on the death of Charlie Kirk. “The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the Department said. In a post shared by the agency, a person identified as an Argentinian national said “Kirk devoted his entire life to spreading racist, xenophobic, misogynistic rhetoric.” Victoria Albert reports for the Wall Street Journal.
The Trump administration has revoked the visas of at least 50 Mexican politicians and government officials amid a crackdown on drug cartels and their suspected political allies, two Mexican officials told Reuters. According to three former U.S. ambassadors, previous administrations have revoked visas in this way but not to the same extent, adding that it shows Trump’s willingness to use this tool to achieve policy goals. Only four individuals have publicly confirmed they lost their visas. Diego Oré, Emily Green, and Stephen Eisenhammer report.
ICE agents have transferred around 20 people to the holding site for detainees awaiting deportation in the U.S. Naval base at Guantánamo Bay, a Defense Department official said yesterday. Prior to this move, the holding site had been empty since October 1 for unknown reasons. Carol Rosenberg reports for New York Times.
Democracy Hub, a rights group in Ghana, yesterday filed a lawsuit against Ghana’s government. The lawsuit alleges that the agreement between Washington and Accra for Ghana to accept people deported from the United States is unconstitutional as it was not approved by the Ghanaian parliament. Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a lawyer and member of Democracy Hub, said that 14 West African nationals arrived in Ghana on Monday, bringing the total numbers of deportees from the United States to 42. Edward Acquah reports for AP News.
Los Angeles County officials yesterday voted to declare a state of emergency that gives them power to provide assistance for residents that have suffered financially from ongoing ICE raids. Funds for rent will be available to people within the next two months, LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s office said. The state of emergency also allows for the disbursal of money for legal aid and other services. Christopher Weber and Jaimie Ding report for AP News.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
The Justice Department said yesterday that Meta had agreed to take down a Facebook page that the DOJ claimed was being used to harass ICE agents in Chicago. A Meta spokesperson said that they had removed the page for “violating our policies against coordinated harm.” Neither Meta or DOJ provided more information. James Oliphant reports for Reuters.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said yesterday that ChatGPT will allow a wider range of content, including “erotica for verified adults” now that OpenAI has been able to “mitigate the serious mental health issues.” Altman said that OpenAI plans to allow ChatGPT to have more personality and to fulfil previously blocked requests. Ina Fried reports for Axios.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is circulating a draft bill, called the Guidelines for User Verification and Responsible Dialogue (GUARD) Act, that would ban AI companions for minors, according to a document seen by Axios. The bill would also prescribe that AI companions tell users that they are not human. Ashley Gold reports.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Trump announced yesterday that a U.S. military strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela has killed six people. Trump said that U.S intelligence had confirmed the vessel was trafficking drugs. He did not provide further details about the strike’s evidential basis. So far, the United States has reported killing a total of at least 27 people in five strikes. Shelby Holliday, Joseph De Avila, and José de Córdoba report for the Wall Street Journal.
Trump also said yesterday that the planned $20 billion bailout for Argentina is contingent upon Argentinian President Javier Milei winning in the legislative elections on October 26. “If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,” Trump told reporters ahead of his meeting with Milei at the White House. Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Alan Rappeport report for the New York Times.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
House Judiciary Committee Republicans yesterday summoned Jack Smith, the former special counsel who twice indicted Trump, to testify about his alleged “partisan and politically motivated prosecutions. “The idea that politics played a role in who worked on that case, or who got chosen, is ludicrous,” Smith said in an interview that was released yesterday. In reference to current DOJ practices, Smith said “nothing like what we see now has ever gone on.” Annie Karni and Glenn Thrush report for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
At least 30 news organizations, including Fox News, ABC, CBS, and NBC, declined to sign the Defense Department’s new press policy yesterday. In a joint statement, several news networks said “today, we join virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon’s [policy], which would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation […] informed of important national security issues.” As of Tuesday’s 5.p.m deadline to sign, only One America News said it would sign the policy. Andrew Goudsward and Helen Coster report for Reuters; Scott Nover reports for the Washington Post.
DOJ prosecutors do not believe that there is sufficient evidence stemming from an investigation seeking to discredit a previous FBI inquiry into Russia’s attempt to sway the 2016 U.S. election in Trump’s favour to bring criminal charges, according to sources. The sources said that the previous U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, Todd Gilbert, was forced to resign in August because he refused to sideline a prosecutor who said that the evidence for this case was flimsy. Devlin Barrett and Michael S. Schmidt report for the New York Times.
Around 466 employees at the Education Department have been fired since last Friday, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget. These layoffs target about one-fifth of the remaining workers in the department. The dismissal notices were sent to Education Department staff via their official emails, which workers have been warned would be illegal to check during the government shutdown. The Trump administration said in recent days that workers could check their emails to see if they had been fired. Sarah Mervosh, Michael C. Bender, and Dana Goldstein report for the New York Times.
The Trump administration has dismissed 4,108 employees since October 1, according to a statement filed yesterday in court by the Justice Department. Last week, the DOJ had estimated that the figure was 4,278. Daniel Wiessner and Courtney Rozen reports for Reuters.
Trump said yesterday that he will announce on Friday a new list of Democratic programs that the government should cut if the government shutdown continues. The shutdown opens a window to cancel “the most egregious, socialist, semi communist, probably not full communist” programs, Trump said. Ben Johansen reports for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge yesterday ruled that the Homeland Security Department had violated a previous court order by imposing new immigration-related conditions that states must accept before receiving grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The judge said that the “Defendants’ new condition is not a good faith effort to comply with the [original] order.” Nate Raymond reports for Reuters.
Former FBI Director James Comey will file a lawsuit on October 20 challenging the legality of Trump’s appointment of his personal attorney, Lindsey Halligan, as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to Comey’s attorneys. Josephine Walker reports for Axios.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
ICYMI: yesterday on Just Security
Export Controls and U.S. Trade Policy: Making Sense of the New Terrain
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