Early Edition: November 13, 2025

Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here.

A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:

U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS

The Justice Department stated in a classified legal opinion, drafted in July, that military personnel engaged in strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in Latin America would not be exposed to future prosecution, according to four sources. The opinion also argues that the United States is in a “non-international armed conflict” waged under the president’s Article II executive authorities. Ellen Nakashima, Dan Lamothe, John Hudson, and Noah Robertson report for the Washington Post.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of G7 meetings that the U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific “violate international law.” Also at a G7 event, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said the U.S. strikes lacked any legal basis and that she had discussed this issue with fellow ministers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday after the G7 foreign ministers meeting that no one raised any objection to ongoing U.S. military strikes targeting alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Rubio added that many of the drug shipments are ultimately bound for Europe, “so maybe they should be thanking us.” Michael Crowley reports for the New York Times.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR 

U.S. intelligence, gathered last year, revealed Israeli officials discussing how Israeli soldiers had sent Palestinians into tunnels in Gaza, which they believed might be lined with explosives, according to two former U.S. officials. The information relating to the alleged use of Palestinians as human shields was shared with the Biden administration during its final weeks, the sources said. Erin Banco reports for Reuters.

WEST BANK VIOLENCE

Israeli President Isaac Herzog yesterday described settler attacks on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank as “shocking and serious.” Herzog said the violence “crosses a red line,” adding that “all state authorities must act to decisively eradicate the phenomenon.” The Israeli army’s chief of staff, Eya Zamir, echoed Herzog, saying the military “will not tolerate the phenomena of a minority of criminals who tarnish a law-abiding public.” Palestinians and human rights workers have frequently accused the Israeli army and police of failing to halt attacks by settlers. The U.N. last week reported more Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank in October than in any other month since 2006. Melanie Lidman reports for AP News.

SUDANESE CIVIL WAR

Rubio yesterday called for international action to cut off weapons supplies to the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces paramilitary. The G7 foreign ministers described the war and famine in Sudan as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, in a joint statement published yesterday. Tom Bateman reports for BBC News.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

“Over two hundred Kenyans may have joined the Russian military” and “recruitment networks are still active in both Kenya and Russia,” according to a statement from Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday. Ukraine’s foreign ministry said last week that more than 1,400 citizens from three dozen African countries are fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, with many recruited through deception. Humphrey Malalo and Vincent Mumo Nzilani report for Reuters.

Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers resigned yesterday amid corruption allegations in Ukraine’s energy sector by the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine. NABU alleges that Justice Minister Herman Haluschenko and others demanded kickbacks from companies that held contracts with the nuclear energy agency Energoatom. Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but said on social media that she had submitted her resignation. Ian Lovett and Nikita Nikolaienko report for the Wall Street Journal.

OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

A Cambodian Ministry of Defense spokesperson said yesterday that Thai soldiers opened fire on civilians in a border village, killing one person and wounding three others. The spokesperson accused Thailand of carrying out “provocative actions over the past few days with the intention of inciting clashes,” in violation of the peace declaration. A Thai army spokesperson said Cambodian troops had opened fire toward the Thai side in the eastern Sa Kaeo province yesterday. Helen Regan and Kocha Olarn report for CNN.

Brig. Gen. Khaled al-Halabi, a former Syrian intelligence officer accused of overseeing torture during the Assad regime’s crackdown on the Arab Spring uprising, was indicted yesterday in Austria after evading war crimes investigators for over a decade. Carlotta Gall and Saad Alnassife report for the New York Times.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has not been able to verify the status of Iran’s uranium stockpile since U.S.-Israeli strikes against its nuclear sites in June, according to a confidential IAEA report seen yesterday by AP News. Stephanie Liechtenstein reports.

TECH DEVELOPMENTS

Google filed a lawsuit yesterday against alleged China-based operators of “Lighthouse,” a phishing platform that fuels toll-payment and delivery text scams. The complaint portrays Lighthouse as an organized criminal enterprise that may have exposed millions of credit cards and helped scammers siphon off large sums of money. Sam Sabin reports for Axios.

A Chinese AI startup, INF Tech, indirectly gained access to 2,300 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips through an Indonesian data center, despite U.S. export restrictions aimed at blocking China from such technology, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation. Liza Lin and Stu Woo report.

U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS

Roman Catholic Bishops from across the United States yesterday said they “oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” and “pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or law enforcement.” The statement was passed at the bishops’ annual conference; the last time the bishops issued such a statement, called a special message, was in 2013. Elizabeth Dias reports for the New York Times.

U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

There is no genocide in northern Nigeria, the African Union Commission chairperson said yesterday, rejecting President Trump’s accusation that Christians were being killed in “very large numbers” in Nigeria. The chairperson added, “Think twice before … making such statements.” Michelle Nichols reports for Reuters.

“South Africa has been falsely accused of genocide against its white community and threatened with punitive sanctions based on these falsehoods,” South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said yesterday during a budget statement. Gregory Svirnovskiy reports for POLITICO.

The Treasury Department yesterday announced sanctions against 32 individuals and entities based in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, China, Hong Kong, India, Germany, and Ukraine in relation to their support of Iran’s ballistic missile and drone production. “These networks pose a threat to U.S. and allied personnel in the Middle East and to commercial shipping in the Red Sea,” the Treasury Department said in a statement. Costas Pitas reports for Reuters.

The CIA conducted a highly classified program to covertly degrade the potency of Afghanistan’s poppy crop from 2001-2021, blanketing Afghan farmers’ fields with specially modified seeds that germinated plants containing almost none of the chemicals that are refined into heroin, the Washington Post has learned. The program, which has not previously been disclosed, was confirmed by 14 sources. Warren P. Strobel reports.

U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS 

A federal grand jury charged Dana Williamson, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) former chief of staff, with 23 counts, including conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States, according to an indictment unsealed yesterday. Laura Rosenhall and Shawn Hubler report for the New York Times.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee yesterday released emails in which Jeffrey Epstein wrote that Trump had “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s victims, among other messages suggesting that Trump knew more about Epstein’s abuse than he has acknowledged. The Oversight Committee later released the rest of the newly obtained 20,000 pages online. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the “selectively released emails” were meant to “smear the president,” adding, “these stories are nothing more than bad faith efforts to distract” from Trump’s accomplishments. Michael Gold reports for the New York Times.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

Senior Trump administration officials met yesterday in the White House with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who supports an effort in the House of Representatives to force a vote on releasing Justice Department case files relating to Epstein. Boebert told CNN that Trump did not pressure her to take her name off of the discharge petition, but confirmed that Epstein did come up in the meeting. Katelyn Polantz, Kaitlan Collins, Hannah Rabinowitz, Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak, and Annie Grayer report.

Trump yesterday signed into law a spending package that ends the government shutdown. The House of Representatives yesterday voted 222 to 209 in favour of the bill; six Democrats joined Republicans in approving the bill, with only two Republicans voting against it. Catie Edmondson and Zolan Kanno-Youngs report for the New York Times.

A Department of Agriculture spokesperson said yesterday that once the government is open, most states will receive the funds to distribute SNAP benefits “within 24 hours.” Grace Yarrow reports for POLITICO.

The Defense Department this week shared the Acquisition Transformation Strategy and three memos detailing changes to the way the U.S. military assesses and purchases weapons. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has received praise from builders, coders, industry groups, think tanks, financiers, and others for the new strategy. President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Defense and Aerospace Council said, “By removing barriers that have for too long slowed innovation and deployment across the industrial base, Secretary Hegseth is positioning a broader range of firms to contribute to our national security strategy.” Colin Demarest reports for Axios.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

A federal judge yesterday ordered the release of 13 people on bond who had been detained by the federal government as part of immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area. The judge also gave Justice Department attorneys a Friday deadline to go through a list of 615 other detainees to see if they qualify for alternatives to detention under a 2022 consent decree while their immigration cases proceed. The judge said he would issue an order for those listed next week. Sophia Tareen reports for AP News.