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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
U.S. Southern Command said that it killed four men in a strike on a suspected drug vessel in the eastern Pacific yesterday. Ismail Shakil reports for Reuters.
In closed-door briefings yesterday, Adm. Frank M. Bradley and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine are said to have told lawmakers that they assumed the hull of the vessel might have stayed afloat following the initial strike on Sept. 2 because it still contained packs of cocaine. They believed the survivors could have managed to float back to Venezuela, allowing them to try again to deliver the cocaine. Bradley denied that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had told him to kill everyone, and insisted that the follow-up strike was lawful. Helene Cooper, Megan Mineiro, Julian E. Barnes, and Charlie Savage report for the New York Times; Stephen Groves and Lisa Mascaro report for AP News.
The video footage of the strikes on Sept. 2 showed that around 30 minutes after the first strike, the front portion of the boat was overturned but still afloat, and the two individuals were visible, according to lawmakers and congressional staff who viewed the video and were briefed on it yesterday. The video does not show the survivors using any radios or satellite phones, according to sources, as U.S. officials had told the New York Times earlier this week. Helene Cooper, Megan Mineiro, Julian E. Barnes, and Charlie Savage report for the New York Times; Stephen Groves and Lisa Mascaro report for AP News.
The Defense Department is considering publicly releasing the video footage of the Sept. 2 strikes, Axios has learned. Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR) said he supports releasing the full video, adding that yesterday’s briefing “demonstrated exactly what I thought it would demonstrate – that these were righteous strikes completely within the law of armed conflict.” Cotton called the reports that Hegseth had given orders to leave no one alive a “total lie.” Other lawmakers emerged from the briefings feeling increasingly concerned about U.S. military action in the Caribbean. Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) said what he saw was “one of the most troubling things” he has ever seen in public service, adding “any American who sees the video that I saw will see the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors — bad guys, bad guys — but attacking shipwrecked sailors.” Stef W. Kight reports; Josephine Walker reports for Axios.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR – INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The Kremlin said today that Russia and the United States were making progress in peace talks, adding that Moscow is ready to carry on working with the current U.S. team. Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday however restated Russia’s demand for full control over Ukraine’s Donbas region, saying Moscow would take it by force unless Ukrainian troops withdrew. “We need real peace, not appeasement,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also said yesterday. Francois Murphy reports for Reuters.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed concern on a confidential call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this week that U.S.-led peace negotiations could pressure Kyiv into yielding territory, according to the transcript reported by Der Spiegel. Macron said, “There is a chance that the U.S. will betray Ukraine on territory without clarity on security guarantees.” Merz warned Zelenskyy that U.S. negotiators are “playing games” and that he should be “very careful” over the next few days. Andreas Rinke and Gabriel Stargardter report for Reuters.
Macron yesterday pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping to do more to help end the war in Ukraine during three-day visit to China. Marcon told reporters that the two leaders had discussed the war “at length,” adding that he hoped Xi would join efforts to achieve “at the very least” a halt in attacks on critical infrastructure in Ukraine. Xi did not commit to anything, telling reporters, “China will continue to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the crisis, while resolutely opposing any irresponsible actions of shifting the blame or smearing.” Vivan Wang reports for the New York Times.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR – CEASEFIRE
The Israeli military said yesterday that its forces have killed around 40 Hamas fighters who had been trapped in tunnels below Rafah, in an area currently under Israeli control. Hamas has not officially confirmed the number of those trapped or how many remain in the tunnels. Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi report for Reuters.
Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of the anti-Hamas militia ‘Popular Force’ in Gaza, was shot and killed while intervening in a Palestinian clan dispute, the militia said yesterday. Anat Peled and Dov Lieber report for the Wall Street Journal.
President Trump plans to announce before Christmas that the Gaza peace process is entering its second phase and to unveil the new governance structure for Gaza, according to two U.S. officials. The sources say the U.S., Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey are negotiating with Hamas on an agreement under which the group will step back from governing Gaza and begin a process of disarmament. A Western source said Egypt and Qatar are optimistic, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Israel announced today that it has set its defense budget at 112 billion shekels ($34.63 billion) for 2026. “We are allocating a huge budget to strengthen the army this year, but also one that allows us to return the State of Israel to a path of growth and relief for citizens.” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said. Alexander Cornwell and Steven Scheer report for Reuters.
SUDANESE CIVIL WAR
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk yesterday said that he fears “a new wave of atrocities” amid a surge of fighting in the Kordofan region, Sudan. “It is truly shocking to see history repeating itself in Kordofan so soon after the horrific events in el-Fasher,” Türk said. AP News.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Officials from Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, and other countries attended a conference this week sponsored by the Israeli Defense Ministry that showcased battlefield technology tested in Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. In the auditorium, a video of two attack drones going into a building in Gaza was shown to the audience to illustrate the technology. Anat Peled reports for the Wall Street Journal.
Germany has deployed five Eurofighter jets and around 150 military personnel to Poland to help secure the country’s airspace following a series of drone incursions in September, the German air force announced yesterday. “With this mission, we are sending another strong message of support for our neighbour Poland and NATO in total,” German Air Chief Holger Neumann said. Sabine Siebold reports for Reuters.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
“We’re succeeding where so many others have failed and this has become the eighth war that we’ve ended in less than one year,” Trump said yesterday as he hosted the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace. Trump went on to praise yesterday’s agreement, which is set to open up the region’s copper and cobalt reserves to U.S. companies. “We’ll be involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest companies over to the two countries,” Trump said. Fighting is ongoing in eastern DRC, and the economic deals agreed yesterday may prove difficult to implement due to instability in the region. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Saikou Jammeh, and Ruth Maclean report for the New York Times.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
New data shows that in ICE operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and across Massachusetts, more than half of those arrested had no criminal record, despite the Trump administration’s position that the aggressive operations are necessary because sanctuary policies have made it harder for federal agents to go after immigrants who have committed crimes. The data was obtained through a lawsuit and made available by the Deportation Data Project. Albert Sun reports for the New York Times.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced yesterday that some migrants will now be required to renew their work permits every 18 months instead of every five years. The agency said it would help it screen and vet migrants more often, allowing it to identify people with “potentially harmful intent so they can be processed for removal.” Madeleine Ngo reports for the New York Times.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said yesterday that the Trump administration will be increasing the number of countries covered by the travel ban to more than 30. Noem did not specify which countries would be added to the list. Ryan Patrick Jones reports for Reuters.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
A grand jury yesterday declined to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to sources. Devlin Barrett and Jonah E. Bromwich report for the New York Times
The Supreme Court yesterday issued an order allowing Texas to use its newly redrawn congressional maps, temporarily blocking a lower court that found the maps were likely unconstitutional for racial gerrymandering. In a 17-page dissent, Justice Elena Kagan argued that the majority had wrongly overturned a careful 160-page lower court ruling, “based on its perusal, over a holiday weekend, of a cold paper record.” Abbie VanSickle reports for the New York Times.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) had his security increased this week after Taylor Taranto, a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant who was previously convicted of threatening Raskin and former President Obama, allegedly showed up near Raskin’s house earlier this week, Axios learned. Andrew Solender reports.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Trump National Security Strategy was released yesterday, providing insight into the administration’s foreign policy strategy. The document focuses closely on increasing U.S. military presence in the Western Hemisphere to battle migration, drugs, and the rise of adversarial powers in the region, adding that this is largely about protecting the U.S. homeland. The document describes such plans as part of a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, a notion from 1823 that the U.S. will not tolerate malign foreign interference in its own hemisphere. In relation to Europe, the strategy sets out that the administration will pursue a policy of “burden-shifting” intended to make Europe “stand on its own feet,” as “the days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.” Nahal Toosie reports for POLITICO; Ben Hall reports for the Financial Times.
The Government Accountability Office confirmed yesterday that it opened an investigation into Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, amid complaints about Pulte’s efforts to go after Trump’s political opponents. Ben Berkowitz and Courtenay Brown report for Axios.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal appeals court yesterday issued an administrative stay, blocking a lower court order that said the National Guard’s presence in Washington was unlawful and that the troops should be removed by Dec. 11. The order said that the decision was designed to give the court enough time to consider the issue, and “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits” of the case. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.
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