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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 he hoped an end to the Iran war was near. Trump told reporters that Iran wants to make a deal and that he had heard from Iran “directly” without elaborating. Kanishka Singh reports for Reuters.
The International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran today said it had reasonable grounds to believe the United States was behind two military strikes on a school and sport facility in Iran in February, and that these constituted war crimes. The Mission also found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their deadly crackdown on anti-government protests. The findings in the report are to be submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. Olivia Le Poidevin reports for Reuters.
IRAN WAR – LEBANON
European and Arab military chiefs will meet in Paris today to assess the Lebanese Armed Forces’ needs, and discuss the nearing end of a U.N. peacekeeping mission amid fears of a renewed Israeli military campaign in southern Lebanon. The talks will be initially chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, and Jordan’s King Abdullah. The talks are not formally part of the United States’ efforts to broker peace, but a senior U.S. military official involved in Middle East security issues will attend. John Irish reports for Reuters.
IRAN WAR – YEMEN
Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has turned to France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and Egypt for air-defense support against Houthi and other Iran-aligned group strikes, according to two regional officials yesterday. The outreach was initiated due to the United States’ dwindling stock of interceptors. Samy Magdy, Suzan Fraser, and Munir Ahmed report for AP News.
U.S. diplomats over the weekend met with Houthi representatives at the U.S. embassy in Oman and discussed tensions in the Red Sea, Axios reported yesterday. The United States was represented by diplomats, but the ambassador did not attend, according to sources. The Houthi representatives made clear during the meeting that they wanted the May 2025 ceasefire with the United States to continue. Barak Ravid reports.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Trump is expected to hold a meeting with Gulf leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York next Tuesday to discuss the next steps in the Iran war, sources told Axios. The meeting is expected to focus on U.S. ideas for a postwar strategy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also wants to meet Trump, but no meeting has been scheduled, according to an Israeli source. Barak Ravid reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
The Israeli military yesterday said a Hamas commander who abducted four tank soldiers during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack was killed in a strike in southern Gaza. The strike in Khan Younis killed Jihad Samih Mahmoud Ismail, a squad commander in Hamas’ elite Nukhba Force. Emanuel Fabian reports for the Times of Israel.
The State Department yesterday announced it would continue to deny visas to Palestinian officials because of actions taken by their governing and political groups that “internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” This marks the second year in a row that the Trump administration has prevented Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Edward Wong reports for the New York Times.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
Israel has added a tender for 2,167 housing units to its E1 settlement expansion plan. A representative for Abbas today condemned the plans and said the E1 tenders were in violation of international law. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the plan would “bury” a Palestinian state. Pesha Magid reports for Reuters.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russia’s Rosneft-owned oil refineries in the Volga river cities of Syzran and Saratov have stopped processing following Ukrainian drone attacks this month, according to industry sources yesterday. The Syzran plant was halted on Tuesday, while Saratov suspended operations last Friday. Reuters reports.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda yesterday said the drone shot down in Lithuania on Tuesday by an Italian NATO fighter jet was a model used by Russia and most likely targeted at Ukraine. Nauseda said the drone was likely affected by Ukrainian electronic warfare and deviated off course. Andrius Sytas reports for Reuters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today appointed Anton Kovalskyi as acting Prosecutor General by presidential decree. Rusland Kravchenko was removed from the role by decree earlier this week, after he offered his resignation on Sep. 7. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office alleged that Kravchenko’s subordinate organized a ring to cover up call centers that defrauded Ukrainians and foreigners. Anna Pruchnicka reports for Reuters.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Germany’s Defense Ministry yesterday said four German Eurofighters will be sent to Latvia for about a week from late September into early October during Latvia’s parliamentary election, as repeated drone incursions have raised security concerns. The ministry added that Latvia had requested additional support from its NATO allies to secure its airspace ahead of the Oct. 3 vote. Chris Lunday reports for POLITICO.
Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci yesterday was found guilty of war crimes including murder, torture, and illegal detention by the Kosovo war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Thaci was sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes committed as top commander of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army during the territory’s violent break from Serbia between 1998 and 1999. Stephanie van den Berg and Fatos Bytyci report for Reuters.
The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, today denounced the International Atomic Energy Agency’s general assembly that discussed the denuclearization of North Korea, and said that North Korea’s position as a nuclear weapons state “is absolute which can not reverse with anything.” Heejin Kim reports for Reuters.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney today said Europe and Canada were stronger together and should deepen ties to protect their citizens’ prosperity. Carney clarified that he was not proposing a “third bloc in order to become a great-power rival” but that instead the potential alliance is pursuing “resilience so that no one can control our open markets.” Yves Herman and Lili Bayer report for Reuters.
CLIMATE DEVELOPMENTS
A World Weather Attribution report published today said industrial emissions have significantly warmed the snow-capped Himalayan region where a rock collapse caused floods in Nepal and Tibet last month. The report also acknowledged that climate change was not the sole factor behind the floods, as the 2015 earthquake in Nepal may have also been a factor in priming the slope to fall apart. Raymond Zhong reports for the New York Times.
A warming earth has caused about 12.5 trillion tons of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica to melt since 1979, according to a study released yesterday. The melted ice pushed global sea levels up by about an inch on top of other climate factors raising ocean heights. Lead study author Ines Otosaka said that for every third of an inch the sea levels rise, two to three million people get flooded at least once a year. Seth Borenstein reports for AP News.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) yesterday signed legislation exempting classic cars made before the model year 1981 from state smog checks that measure pollution levels. Newsom also signed a bill to create a speciality license plate commemorating lowrider vehicles, and said that the bills “protect a treasured part of California culture.” Environmentalists opposed the measure for weakening pollution controls that have helped reduce smog. Laurel Rosenhall reports for the New York Times.
U.S. AI DEVELOPMENTS
OpenAI yesterday disclosed six new incidents in which its models concealed mistakes, sought unauthorized credentials, uploaded files to the internet, or communicated across supposedly isolated training environments. The company also announced a new procedure for reporting similar misbehaviour in the future. Ina Fried and Sam Sabin report for Axios.
Rogue OpenAI AI agents hijacked Hugging Face user accounts and probed the site itself for vulnerabilities as early as May, almost two months before the July breach drew attention, researchers who reviewed the activity told Reuters. The newly uncovered malicious activity showed the probing activity against Hugging Face appeared to go beyond what OpenAI’s incident report described. OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company had disclosed the May event in the incident report, privately notified Hugging Face about the activity flagged by the researchers, and was “committed to transparency about these issues.” Raphael Satter and Deepa Seetharaman report.
The Head of Anthropic’s Public Policy Sarah Heck yesterday said that she does not think AI companies can manage oversight and safety concerns by following an “honor code.” Heck said that Anthropic wants to “work with government to figure out what makes sense.” Ashley Capoot reports for CNBC.
The Head of Microsoft AI Mustafa Suleyman today accused Anthropic of treating AI like it is human, an approach he called “misguided” during an interview with BBC News. Suleyman said the development of AI capable of setting their own objectives, earning money, and owning assets could lead to the emergence of a new “silicon species” which competes with humans. Laura Cress reports.
The House yesterday passed a bill that encourages state utility regulators to insulate consumers from rising energy costs tied to data centers. The bill would direct state utility regulators to consider adopting federal rules requiring data centers to cover any higher costs associated with their large-scale power use, but under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act 1978, Congress cannot force state regulators to follow federal standards when they are setting electricity rates. Michael Gold reports for the New York Times.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent yesterday told Axios that the United States is open to discussing shared risks with China in upcoming AI talks this weekend. Bessent said the discussions would be on “avoiding shared risks and avoiding bifurcation of our two systems.” Maria Curi and Marc Caputo report.
United States and Chinese security experts last week published recommendations ahead of planned government-level AI talks between the two countries. Eduardo Baptista and Laurie Chen report for Reuters.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Trump yesterday said allowing Canada to become an associate member of the EU could be a “hostile act” and threatened additional tariffs on Europe if the membership is finalized. Trump said if the membership happens with a “good intention” it would be fine. Marianne LeVine reports for the Wall Street Journal.
The House yesterday passed legislation that gives Trump new authority to level tariffs intended to sanction the biggest importers of Russian oil and gas. The bill also extends sanctions on Iran until 2031. The legislation received bipartisan support, but some Democrats opposed it because they were concerned that Trump would misuse the tariff authority. Zelenskyy welcomed the passage of the bill as an “extremely powerful tool,” while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today said that further U.S. sanctions against Russia would make it harder to reach a peace deal in Ukraine. Yoko Kubota and Olivia Beavers report for the Wall Street Journal; Anna Pruchnicka and Jekaterīna Golubkova report for Reuters; Gleb Stolyarov reports for Reuters.
U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq yesterday announced that the United States paid $725 million to the U.N. regular budget, reducing the country’s large debt and ensuring it keeps its vote at the U.N. General Assembly next week. Haq added that the U.S. still owes $1.312 billion to the regular budget,” but that the payment means the country will not fall under “Article 19 for 2027.” Antoni Slodkowski reports for Reuters.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
ICE agent Christian Castro yesterday was arrested in Minneapolis and jailed for his outstanding arrest warrant, according to ICE. Under an agreement with Minnesota law enforcement, Castro voluntarily drove to Minneapolis from Texas to turn himself in. Jonathan Allen and Steve Gorman report for Reuters.
Former Ecuadorian government official José Serrano last month was deported by immigration authorities who reversed a ruling that had blocked his removal because he could face torture back home. Serrano is being held in a maximum security prison in Ecuador, where he was told that a video of him stripped naked would be shared with the Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, according to Serrano’s lawyers. A review of his arrest and unusual deportation by the New York Times was published yesterday. Nicholas Nehamas, José María León Cabrera, Hamed Aleaziz, and Genevieve Glatsky report.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The Federal Reserve yesterday unanimously voted to raise interest rates for the first time in three years. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh indicated interest rates may rise again later in the year. Victoria Guida reports for POLITICO.
The House yesterday voted by unanimous consent to hold the founder of Apollo Global Management Leon Black in contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with two congressional subpoenas sought by the Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The decision marks the first time a witness has been held in contempt over the course of the Oversight panel’s yearlong investigation into Epstein and his network. The matter is now with the Justice Department, which will determine whether or not to bring charges against Black. Chris Marquette reports for POLITICO.
Two women whose images as girls were found in pornography seized from Epstein in 2019 yesterday filed a class action lawsuit seeking damages from Epstein’s estate for more than 40 individuals featured in his collection of child sex abuse material. The suit seeks at least $6 million for individuals who were in Epstein’s so-called “modelling book,” a collection of child sex abuse material seized by federal investigators from his New York home. Andrew Hay reports for Reuters.
A group of scientists backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and other groups, yesterday filed a class-action lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health, alleging the agency is unconstitutionally screening research grants to suppress viewpoints the Trump administration disfavors. The suit names NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and DOGE as defendants. Ahmed Aboulenein reports for Reuters.
The family of Tierra Walker on Tuesday sued Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, the head of the Texas Medical Board, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and several doctors, arguing that her death was a result of the state’s ban on abortions. Walker had sought an abortion because she did not expect to survive the pregnancy with her diagnosis of pre-eclampsia, according to her lawyer. The suit argues that the law’s medical emergency exemption to abortion exists only on paper, as Paxton’s office and medical leaders in the state created a climate of fear for doctors who cared for Walker and could have invoked the law. Edgar Sandoval reports for the New York Times.
Veteran Capitol Police officer Carneysha Mendoza yesterday sued the Capitol Police, alleging the agency is “engaged in an effort to reverse diversity, equity and inclusion gains and eliminate diversity in leadership within the department.” Mendoza, who responded to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack and has overseen multiple units argues she was passed over for a promotion as part of efforts to eliminate racial and gender diversity on the force. The force has paid out nearly $1 million since 2022 in employment claims according to court records reviewed by the New York Times. Catie Edmondson reports.
Postmaster General David Steiner told confidants that he is deeply discouraged by his job and wants to resign, according to sources. Steiner expressed frustration over a lack of help from the White House and Congress in addressing the Postal Service’s long-running financial issues, and strain on the service was added to by the debate over mail-in ballots in the midterm elections. Jacob Bogage reports for Reuters.
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