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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
President Trump yesterday said that the United States would hit Iran “hard,” in response to Iran’s attacks on bases in Jordan. However, when asked in the Oval Office whether strikes were a return to full-scale war, Trump downplayed the threat from Iran, calling it a “failed nation.” Elleiana Green reports for POLITICO; Michael Birnbaum reports for the Washington Post.
Vice President JD Vance yesterday claimed Trump was sending a message to Iran with his AI social media post on Sunday depicting Kharg Island being blown to smithereens. Vance clarified that Trump would not “make announcements about military actions on social media”, and that Trump likes to “switch it up on social media.” Reuters reports.
Trump and senior aides over the past week have considered waging limited strikes in the Strait of Hormuz to prevent Iran from reconstituting its radar and missile capabilities, according to sources. The plan was developed by U.S. Central Command, but was not approved ahead of the most recent exchange of fire with Iran. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, while at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Kyrgyzstan, said today that Iran will immediately reciprocate if the United States returns to its commitments under the Memorandum of Understanding agreed in June. Reciprocation would involve allowing free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters reports.
Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati today said that Iran has sufficient foreign currency reserves despite U.S. sanctions. Hemmati further said that the central bank was ready to inject up to $2 billion into the foreign exchange market to calm recent volatility. Reuters reports.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
A tanker was struck yesterday by three unknown projectiles while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations agency. Anniek Bao reports for CNBC.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli airstrikes yesterday across Gaza killed at least five people, according to Gaza medics. Two people were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a crowd near a municipal public park in Gaza City, while a separate airstrike hit a vehicle in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in western Gaza City, killing at least three people. The Israeli military claimed the two attacks targeted Hamas fighters. Al Jazeera reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russian airstrikes today killed 12 people in Kyiv and the surrounding region, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. The strikes targeted residential areas and railway infrastructure, and mark the sixth consecutive day of strikes on the Ukrainian capital. Russia also targeted port infrastructure and a border crossing with Romania in the south Black Sea region of Odesa, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Valentyn Ogirenko and Jekaterina Golubkova report for Reuters; Anna Pruchnicka and Pavel Polityuk report for Reuters.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday told Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war for the sake of humanity during a meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. At a press conference before the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, Modi spoke about ceasing hostilities, while Putin stood next to him looking physically uncomfortable. Alice Taylor reports for POLITICO.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT
Nepali Climate Change Chief in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Environment Maheshwar Dhakal yesterday explicitly asserted that human-caused climate change had been a factor in the glacial collapse and flooding in Nepal. He framed the event as an inequity, in which decades of greenhouse-gas emissions from richer nations are harming vulnerable countries like Nepal that cannot cope with the rapid changes. Chico Harlan reports for the New York Times.
A second death was confirmed yesterday in the Grand Canyon flood. According to the park’s incident commander, Dave Black, one known person is still unaccounted for. Billy Witz and Thomas Fuller report for the New York Times.
A federal judge yesterday ruled that New York City cannot enforce a 2024 state law that sought to force fossil fuel companies to contribute $75 billion over 25 years into a fund to pay for damage caused by climate change. The judge said that the Clean Air Act, which gave the federal Environmental Protection Agency authority to regulate CO2 emissions, did not authorize states to adopt emissions compensation schemes. Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel report for Reuters.
China’s state-run media today reported that solar farms overtook coal plants in July to become China’s top source of installed power capacity. Colleen Howe reports for Reuters.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
Anthropic today said it paused some AI training and cybersecurity evaluations after three incidents it disclosed in July. The company also briefly paused its own in-house tests of pre-release models. Madison Mills and Sam Sabin report for Axios.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Former British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has today announced he is standing down as the Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras, a move that will trigger a by-election in the seat. Ewan Somerville reports for BBC News.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry today said that the country will send a 44-member emergency relief team to Nepal to support search-and-rescue operations. The deployment follows a request by Nepal for assistance, according to the ministry. Joyce Lee reports for Reuters.
Germany’s Interior and Foreign Affairs ministers plan to announce today that Russian intelligence services were behind an attempted drone attack on a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig/Halle airport in early August, Bild newspaper reported today. Neither ministry has commented on the report. Ludwig Burger, Andreas Rinke, and Markus Wacket report for Reuters.
UNHCR today said it was not involved in Malaysia’s planned repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, and warned that it remains unsafe for them to return. Reuters reports.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez yesterday said there were signs Russia and Israel had spread the disinformation over Spain’s migration policy that triggered last month’s rush of migrants into Ceuta. Sanchez said research by the EU’s diplomatic service EEAS had indicated that Russian and Israeli networks had been behind the spread in conjunction with far-right networks. Sanchez also clarified that there was no evidence of Moroccan involvement. Reuters report.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Trump administration invited Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and leaders of the Russian central bank to the meeting of G20 finance ministers, which began yesterday. His participation sparked protests yesterday from other European participants. The traditional “family photo” of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors was taken without Siluanov. Trump defended the invitation, saying “we like getting along with everybody.” Riley Beggin and Catherine Belton report for the Washington Post; David Lawder and Philip Blenkinsop report for Reuters.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent yesterday met with Siluanov on the sidelines of the G20. A Treasury spokesperson told Axios that Bessent and Siluanov discussed Trump’s Ukraine peace plan and economic growth. Russia’s Finance Ministry said that talks covered financial issues between the two nations and G20 engagement. Courtenay Brown reports.
Bessent yesterday claimed that Canada lacked the economic might to fight a trade war. Bessent accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of backing away from the trade agreement with the United States for political purposes. Alan Rappeport reports for the New York Times.
China’s state-owned shipping company COSCO used concealed equipment on board its ships to spy on military communications near the coastlines of target nations, including the United States, senior Trump administration officials told Reuters. The anonymous officials said COSCO has a decades-long intelligence-collection partnership with Beijing. China’s embassy in Washington rejected the claims. Michael Martina reports.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum yesterday said Trump has personally asked Apple to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” on Apple Maps. Josephine Walker reports for Axios.
U.S.-backed oil company Northern American Blue Energy Partners will take over some oilfields in Venezuela previously controlled by several Chinese companies and a Russian firm, U.S. officials told Reuters yesterday. The White House said NABEP also granted the U.S. Department of State the right of first refusal to purchase the remaining 80% of its production. Steven Holland and Jarrett Renshaw report.
The Trump administration plans to spend $4 million to bolster right-wing media in Europe, according to sources. The money would be part of a package worth at least $25 million for civil society groups working on conservative causes in the region. The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor says the funding is meant to strengthen transatlantic ties and promote free speech. Humeyra Pamuk and Paul Carsten report for Reuters.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
The California legislature yesterday gave final approval to the “GTFO Act,” a bill that would require the state to adopt a special screening for former ICE agents applying for law enforcement and other public-sector jobs. The bill has been sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to sign. Nicole Norman reports for POLITICO.
The California Legislature yesterday passed a bill banning law enforcement officers from using electric shock gloves, in an effort to prevent federal immigration agents from deploying them. The Department of Homeland Security said yesterday that it would not comply with the bill, calling it unconstitutional. Tim Arango reports for the New York Times.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to Trump yesterday, following months of tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Wall Street Journal reports. Driscoll is expected to leave the Pentagon in the coming days. With his departure, the Army will lack any Senate-confirmed civilian or military leaders. Michael R. Gordon and Macus Weisgerber report.
The National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee filed an emergency appeal on Friday asking the Supreme Court to block a federal court ruling that prevents political parties from receiving the same discounted TV advertising rates available to individual candidates. Josh Gerstein and Andrew Howard report for POLITICO.
“The Joint Force has no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places” during the November midterms, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine wrote in a letter to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) released yesterday. Caine added that there are also “no plans to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election-related material.” Elleiana Green reports for POLITICO.
Defense lawyers for 38 people charged over the Minnesota church protest in January filed nearly 50 motions yesterday challenging the case. In one of the motions, they say the charges should be dismissed in their entirety as Homeland Security Investigations lacked authority to investigate the alleged crimes. Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.
Federal prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida have issued a grand jury subpoena demanding testimony from Daniel C. Richman, a close confidant of former FBI Director James B. Comey, according to a source. The inquiry in Florida is the third time Richman has been called to provide information about Comey. Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.
Federal judges are operating in an “increasingly hostile landscape of threats, harassment, and intimidation,” according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice released yesterday. The report details a sharp rise in the threats faced by federal judges over the past decade, and recommends increasing funding for their protection. Joanna Slater reports for the Washington Post.
California and 11 other states joined the Writers Guild of America yesterday in urging a federal court judge to deny Paramount Skydance’s request for a $1.88 billion bond to address the cost of delay in completing its acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, according to a court filing. California argued that any damages Paramount has incurred from delays are self-imposed, and the court should reject any efforts to shift the burden to the public and a non-profit union. Dawn Chmielewski reports for Reuters.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 22 states yesterday filed a lawsuit, alleging that Amazon secretly manipulated ad auctions to inflate advertising costs by more than $20 billion. Greg Bensinger reports for Reuters.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
A U.S Postal Service official filed a whistleblower report, published today, asserting that the agency is moving forward with a “secretive, rushed” effort to implement Trump’s executive order despite a court order blocking the plans. The report warns that technical problems with the new system could prevent millions of voters from receiving or casting mail ballots. Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times.
Vice President JD Vance yesterday sought to repair relations with pro-Israel Republicans in a closed-door appearance at the Republican Jewish Coalition leadership summit. According to a source and audio obtained by POLITICO, Vance addressed growing suspicion among under-40s of the U.S.-Israel relationship, saying “what we have to do is articulate why this is in the best interests of the United States of America.” He hit a home run with the crowd,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) told reporters after the speech, noting Vance received “several standing ovations.” Samuel Benson reports for POLITICO.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Erica Schwartz excluded two deaths reported by Pennsylvania last week from the CDC’s weekly updates of a national measles death tally, according to three former and current officials. The post on the CDC’s website said that at this time “available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths.” Lena H. Sun and Rachel Roubein report for the Washington Post.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
In a 5-to-4 vote, the Supreme Court yesterday allowed construction on Trump’s White House ballroom to continue. The court said the preservationists who challenged the construction lacked legal standing to bring the suit because they were not directly harmed by the project. Ann E. Marimow reports for the New York Times.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.
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