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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
IRAN WAR – NEGOTIATIONS
President Trump said yesterday in an interview that a second round of direct negotiations with Iran could take place in Pakistan over the next two days. Trump did not say whether Vice President JD Vance would continue to lead the negotiating team. Trump also said he did not like the reports that the United States had proposed a 20-year suspension of all nuclear activity in Iran, rather than a permanent ban on enrichment. “I’ve been saying they can’t have nuclear weapons,” Trump said. “So I don’t like the 20 years.” Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times; Karen DeYoung reports for the Washington Post.
Israeli intelligence chief David Barnea said yesterday that the war in Iran had delivered a serious blow to the Iranian regime but that Israel’s mission would be complete only once the regime was replaced. Isabel Kershner and Gabby Sobelam report for the New York Times.
IRAN WAR – STRAIT OF HORMUZ
The first full day of the U.S. blockade on vessels calling at Iranian ports made little difference to Strait of Hormuz traffic yesterday, with at least eight ships, including three Iran-linked tankers, crossing the waterway, shipping data showed. “During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade,” U.S. Central Command claimed on social media, adding that six vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port. Florence Tan, Mariko Katsumura, and Jonathan Saul report for Reuters.
Iran-linked ships are increasingly using “spoofing” tactics to evade detection in and around the Strait of Hormuz following the U.S. blockade, according to maritime intelligence experts. “Now, we are starting to see vessels going dark or using ‘zombie’ or random identification,” said Windward CEO Ami Daniel. Ephrat Livni reports for the New York Times.
IRAN WAR – LEBANON OPERATIONS
Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday hosted direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington. The talks concluded with encouraging words and talk of further meetings, but no firm commitments and no change in Israel’s refusal to halt its military campaign against Hezbollah. A source said that Lebanese officials reiterated their desire to disarm Hezbollah and asked for U.S. aid for Lebanon’s armed forces to carry out the task. Michael Crowley and Euan Ward report for the New York Times.
Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and six other countries yesterday condemned the killing of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon and called for an “urgent end to hostilities.” The joint statement focused on concern around “the worsening humanitarian situation and displacement crisis,” without directly mentioning Israel or Hezbollah. Kanishka Singh reports for Reuters.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said yesterday that her government had suspended a defense cooperation deal with Israel. “When there are things we don’t agree with, we act accordingly,” Meloni told reporters. The Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement, “We have no security agreement with Italy. We have a memorandum of understanding from many years ago that has never contained any substantive content. This will not affect Israel’s security.” Angelo Amante and Alvise Armellini report for Reuters.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said yesterday that the world cannot risk reverting “to the law of the jungle,” in his first public comments on the war. Xi did not mention the United States or Trump directly, but he added that “to maintain the authority of international rule of law, we cannot use it when it suits us and abandon it when it doesn’t.” China’s foreign ministry accused the United States of a “targeted blockade” that “will only aggravate confrontation, escalate tension under the already fragile cease-fire, and further jeopardize safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.” Lily Kuo reports for the New York Times; David E. Sanger and Tyler Pager report for the New York Times.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps secretly acquired a Chinese spy satellite in 2024, significantly enhancing its ability to monitor and target US military bases across the Middle East during recent strikes, according to a Financial Times investigation. Miles Johnson, Peter Andringa, Alison Killing, Charles Clover, and Demetri Sevastopulo report.
The IMF said yesterday that the Iran war has halted global economic momentum. “Prior to the war, we were poised to upgrade our global growth forecast,” the IMF said yesterday in its latest World Economic Outlook, pointing to a tech investment boom, easing trade tensions, and buoyant financial markets. “War in the Middle East will overwhelm these underlying forces.” Courtenay Brown and Neil Irwin report for Axios.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli fire yesterday killed at least 11 Palestinians in Gaza, including two children, local health officials said. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas report for Reuters.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will again skip the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting this week, with the Pentagon’s policy chief Elbridge Colby attending instead, according to two U.S. officials. Paul McLeary reports for POLITICO.
The Trump administration informed Congress on April 8 that Cuba has contributed up to 5,000 fighters for Russia’s war in Ukraine, while also providing “diplomatic and political support for Moscow,” according to an official transmission from the State Department. “The public record does not prove Havana officially dispatched all Cuban fighters,” the five-page unclassified report states. “However, there are significant indicators that the regime knowingly tolerated, enabled, or selectively facilitated the flow.” Hans Nichols reports for Axios.
SUDANESE CIVIL WAR
Sudan today enters into a fourth year of war. “This grim and chastening anniversary marks another year when the world has failed to meet the test of Sudan,” U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher said. Samy Magdy and Sam Mednick report for AP News.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
A Milan court yesterday accepted a class action brought by a consumer group against Meta over the theft of personal data involving Facebook users in Italy. According to the court order, the data scraping incident, which took place between Jan. 2018 and Sept. 2019, affected around 35 million Facebook users in Italy and 533 million globally. Reuters reports.
Around 250 people are missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea last week, UNHCR and the International Organization of Migration said yesterday. Reuters reports.
Serbia will jointly make combat drones with Israel, Serbian President Alexander Vucic said yesterday. Vucic said that “we will have the best drones in this part of the world,” according to the Tanjug news agency. Serbia’s Yugoimport SDPR state arms producer will open a drone plant with Elbit Systems, according to Serbia’s BIRN news service. The report said the Israeli company will own 51% of the future plant. AP News reports.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Trump administration plans to launch its refund system on April 20 for the $166 billion paid in tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down as unlawful earlier this year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a court filing yesterday that it has completed the development of the initial phase of the system, known as CAPE. The system will consolidate refunds so importers will receive one electronic payment, with interest when applicable. The filing said that as of April 9 some 56,497 importers had completed the process to receive electronic refunds for tariffs, amounting to $127 billion. Tom Hals reports for Reuters.
U.S CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS
A U.S. military strike yesterday on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific killed four people. Eric Schmitt reports for the New York Times.
The Trump administration eased sanctions on Venezuela’s state-run financial system yesterday, allowing banks in Venezuela to begin legally using U.S. currency and directly receiving billions of dollars in oil sales. Marc Caputo reports for Axios.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
ICE deported 442,637 people between October 2024 and September 2025, according to newly released statistics. The figure is about 171,000 people more than the previous fiscal year, but far short of Trump’s campaign promise to deport one million people a year. The figure is the first official deportation statistic released under the Trump administration and was included in a congressional budget justification report. Brittany Gibson reports for Axios.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is set to receive more than 30 deportees from the United States this week, four sources told Reuters. The people being deported are all from countries other than the DRC, with at least some coming from Central and South America, according to one source and court documents. One source said the number was 37, while another put the figure at 45. Clement Bonnerot, Robbie Corey-Boulet, and Giulia Paravicini report.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The House of Representatives will vote today on an 18-month renewal of FISA Section 702 under pressure ahead of its April 20, 2026 expiration. Conservative Republican opposition and significant but not unified Democratic resistance threaten the measure’s passage. Briana Reilly, Anthony Adragna, Andrew Desiderio, Laura Weiss, and Jake Sherman report for Punch Bowl News.
Maine lawmakers yesterday approved a bill freezing construction of new data centers until November 2027. The pause would give Maine time to assess the risks to the environment and the electric grid. The bill is headed to Gov. Janet Mills’s (D) desk. Alyssa Lukpat reports for the Wall Street Journal.
Federal Prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office made an unannounced visit to the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation site yesterday, according to a source and a letter reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. After speaking with construction workers, two prosecutors were advised that they could not access the site without preclearance. An outside lawyer for the Fed objected to the visit in a letter to Pirro’s office, citing a judge’s ruling that the ongoing investigation aimed to pressure Chair Jerome Powell. C. Ryan Barber reports.
Federal prosecutors from Pirro’s office are also seeking to wipe out the seditious conspiracy convictions of 12 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who helped plan the Jan. 6 riots, according to court documents filed yesterday. Salvador Rizzo, Jeremy Roebuck, and Perry Stein report for the Washington Post.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Sebastian Gorka, a national security aide to Trump, is seeking to become the next head of the National Counterterrorism Center, a position that would give him broad powers over the country’s counterterrorism apparatus, according to four sources. Gorka has focused much of his career on a hard-line approach to Islamist extremist and immigration policy. It remains unclear whether the administration intends to nominate Gorka. Noah Robertson, John Hudson, and Dan Lamothe report for the Washington Post.
Staff from at least two federal agencies have reached out to Anthropic in recent days to express interest in integrating Claude Mythos into their cyber defense efforts, according to a former U.S. technology official. The Commerce Department’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation is actively testing Mythos’ hacking prowess, four sources said. John Sakellariadis and Brendan Bordelon report for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal appeals court yesterday concluded that U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had overstepped his authority by continuing to pursue possible contempt charges against administration officials who signed off on deportations to El Salvador. Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report for POLITICO.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.
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