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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
U.S. Central Command announced new strikes on Iran overnight in response to Iranian forces targeting U.S. military assets in the Middle East. CENTCOM said early this morning that it had completed a “heavy wave” of strikes on Iran, targeting military command centers, missile and drone factories, and a coastal surveillance site. Iran’s official IRNA news agency said three people were killed and two were wounded in a strike on the island of Qeshm. Max Bearak, Farnaz Fassihi, and Pranav Baskar report for the New York Times; Samy Magdy and Elena Becatoros report for AP News.
An Iranian strike hit a Chinese firm’s building in northern Kuwait this morning, severely damaging the structure and killing a worker, Kuwait’s military said, hours after Jordan shot down five missiles launched from Iran. The attacks came after the U.S. military said it had completed its latest strikes against Iran. Samy Magdy and Elena Becatoros report for AP News.
Two ships, including a US.-owned gas storage tanker, caught fire in the Egyptian port of Damietta yesterday. President Trump told reporters that Iran was responsible, without offering details. He said the incident was “more of the same” and reissued his promise to hit Iran “very hard.” The Egyptian authorities said today that a preliminary investigation suggested a drone caused the fires. No country has taken responsibility for the attack. Zane Irwin, Peter Eavis, Farnaz Fassihi, and Pranav Baskar report for the New York Times; Tala Ramadan reports for Reuters.
Trump met yesterday with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman at the White House, a U.S. official and another source told Axios. The meeting was added to the Saudi minister’s itinerary after he met with Vice President JD Vance and told him that Saudi Arabia favors de-escalation with Iran, despite this week’s joint U.S.-Saudi strike on pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, a source said. Barak Ravid reports.
IRAN WAR – LEBANON
The Israeli military said yesterday that Hezbollah launched an explosive drone at one of its vehicles on the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon. A Hezbollah spokesman said the group did not claim responsibility for an operation on the ridge area, and accused Israel of using “false pretexts” to continue its attacks in Lebanon. Abdi Latif Dahir reports for the New York Times.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
In a White House meeting on Tuesday, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu carried out a clinical review of three strategies toward Iran: a diplomatic agreement, intensifying economic pressure and ramping up the blockade, or renewing military actions, according to a senior Israeli official. The official added that Netanyahu did not express a preference for any of the options and told Trump it was his decision. Lara Seligman, Philip Wegmann, and Vera Bergengruen report for the Wall Street Journal; Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Some U.S troops in Jordan have been told that their phones will be confiscated in the coming days, two sources told Reuters. A third source said such a move was being considered in the region due to operational security concerns but did not present the confiscation as certain. The head of U.S. Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, said in a letter earlier this week that Iran was benefiting from being able to see the success or failure of its strikes in near real-time by searching news reports or online posts by journalists referencing “reactions, photos, and footage from the cellphones of our troops.” Phil Stewart reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with more than 70 missiles and about 280 drones, killing at least eight people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The Ukrainian air force said that Kyiv and the western region of Lviv on Ukraine’s border with Poland were the main focus of the attack. Air defence units shot down 55 missiles and 265 drones but only one of nine ballistic missiles, the air force added. Olena Harmash and Andriy Peru report for Reuters.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said a Russian cruise missile crossed into Poland during the strikes. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told an emergency meeting this morning that “all the indications are that it was a Russian Kh-101 ballistic missile, but we want to be 100% certain about the type of missile and who launched it.” Tusk added that there was no direct threat because the missile had landed in an uninhabited area. Kuba Stezycki reports for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
The Israeli military yesterday bombed a mosque in Gaza, accusing Hamas of using it to store weapons. Hamas responded that Israel’s claims aimed “to justify its attacks on mosques” and were “entirely false.” Zaher al-Waheidi, a statistician at the Gaza health ministry, said health officials did not record any deaths or injuries from the strike. Adam Rasgon and Iyad Abuheweila report for the New York Times.
Israeli strikes today killed at least four people in Gaza, including two children, health officials said. The Israeli military said the strikes targeted Hamas militants, without providing further details. Nidal Al-Mughrabi reports for Reuters.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
The U.N. human rights office warned yesterday of worsening violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, urging international action against the killing of Palestinians as well as the creation of settlements. According to U.N. figures, 18 Palestinians have been killed in incidents linked to settler attacks so far this year, compared with 17 in the whole of 2025. The Palestinian Authority says at least 20 Palestinians have been killed by settlers since the start of the year. Olivia Le Poidevin reports for Reuters.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said yesterday that Myanmar has agreed to take 5,000 Rohingya asylum seekers currently in Malaysia, with authorities set to identify and screen those selected before coordinating their repatriation. Muslim-majority Malaysia has long been seen as a safe haven for Rohingya fleeing persecution in the largely Buddhist Myanmar, with around 126,000 Rohingya registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia as of the end of February. Ashley Tang and Danial Azhar report for Reuters.
The World Food Programme acting executive director, Carl Skau, said yesterday that the rapidly worsening Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is intensifying an already severe hunger crisis, with millions facing emergency levels of food insecurity amid ongoing conflict. Constant Same Bagalwa, Prosper Heri Ngorora, and Edith M. Ledrer report for AP News.
Cuba yesterday introduced major economic reforms by easing restrictions on private businesses, allowing for private imports and sales of goods and medicines, and opening more sectors to private and foreign investment to address severe shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and transport. The measures were approved by the Cuban parliament last month and went into effect yesterday. Andrea Rodriguez and Ariel Fernandez report for AP News.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The United States is considering delaying, or even blocking, French President Emannuel Macron’s choice for France’s next ambassador to Washington, following France’s public criticism of the United States’ human rights record, four sources told Reuters. “The United States is very disappointed in the irresponsible and disrespectful rhetoric from the French,” a State Department official said. “We are responding appropriately to their comments.” Gabriel Stargardter, Humeyra Pamuk, Gram Slattery, and Andrea Shalal report.
The Caribbean Court of Justice in Trinidad yesterday ruled that the U.S. extradition process against Guyana’s main opposition leader, Azruddin Mohamed, and his father, Nazar Mohamed, can resume. They are both wanted on gold smuggling and money laundering charges. Bert Wilkinson and Danica Coto report for AP News.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
OpenAI and Anthropic senior executives have endorsed a petition released on Tuesday requesting “that the U.S. government support an international effort to develop technical and governance tools needed to deliberately pace the frontier of automated AI development.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman did not sign the petition himself but said on a podcast clip released Tuesday that it might be necessary to “pace the rate of AI development.” Gerrit De Vynck reports for the Washington Post.
OpenAI launched a new program yesterday that provides 100,000 academic researchers with free access to its most advanced AI models through 2027, Axios learned. Ina Fried reports.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
The Alien Terrorist Removal Court will have its first-ever hearing today, according to court documents made public last night. The Justice Department is asking the court to deport Nazira Haji Zada, whose son was convicted last year for an ISIS-aligned terrorist plot targeting the 2024 election. Zada herself has no criminal history, but DOJ described her as having “worked to indoctrinate her children with ISIS ideology and have them pledge loyalty to ISIS.” ICE officials say efforts to deport her through traditional immigration courts would not suffice. Today’s hearing will be held in public, but many details will be withheld from public view and from Zada herself. Tierney Sneed reports for CNN; Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.
The State Department and Uruguay’s foreign ministry have been discussing a deal to deport Cubans from the United States to Uruguay for months, according to officials. Uruguay entered the negotiations partly because it needs immigrant workers, and partly to win favor with the Trump administration, a senior Uruguayan official said. Edward Wong and Emma Bubola report for the New York Times.
Recent reports of immigration arrests at U.S airports stem from increased collaboration between the Transportation Security Administration and ICE, ICE sources told CBS News. One of the ICE sources said that people traveling at airports are “easy targets” who immigration agents can arrest in secured locations and while having information about their cases in advance. The source noted that doing immigration enforcement at airports is a relatively straightforward way to boost arrest levels, at a time when the White House has been pressuring ICE to record 2,000 daily arrests. Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Republicans yesterday postponed a vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general after Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) threatened to derail it over the settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS. Glenn Thrush and Michael Gold report for the New York Times.
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution yesterday declaring that Ghislaine Maxwell should never receive a presidential pardon. Hans Nichols reports for Axios.
Secret Service agents who questioned former FBI Director James B. Comey following his 2025 Instagram post featuring the numbers “86 47” were told to quickly send a written summary of the interview to Trump on Air Force One, according to a new court filing by Comey’s lawyers. Devlin Barrett and Alan Feuer report for the New York Times.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said yesterday that he is launching a probe into Dr Anthony Fauci after the health official invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during a Senate hearing about the Covid-19 pandemic. Fauci was subpoenaed to testify under oath by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). In his opening statement, Fauci said Paul has an “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution,” adding that while it pained him to do so, he was thus following his attorney’s advice by taking the Fifth. Max Rego reports for The Hill; Lauren Neergaard and Ali Swenson report for AP News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Trump overruled his own agencies when he denied disaster aid for four Democratic-led states this month, according to emails obtained by POLITICO and state officials. Trump’s rejections came after regional offices of FEMA and NOAA determined that the state met government thresholds for receiving aid following a snowstorm in February. Thomas Frank reports.
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