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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 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and U.S. officials Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met after his address to the U.N. where he claimed he may “annihilate” Iran if a deal is not reached soon to end the war. The group met for around three hours on the sidelines, and Trump said the encounter was a “very good meeting,” but offered few details about what was discussed. Iranian state television said the meeting was requested by the United States and “driven by the need to convey Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.” Aamer Madhani, Farnoush Amiri, and Edith M. Lederer report for AP News; Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
A group of bipartisan U.S. senators urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to make the release of a U.S. journalist Reza Valizadeh imprisoned in Iran an “urgent priority,” according to a letter obtained by CBS News. Valizadeh has been imprisoned in Iran since Sep. 2024 for “collaborating with a hostile government,” and the U.S. State Department formally designated him as wrongfully detained in May 2025. Olivia Gazis and Margaret Brennan report.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
An Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in Gaza today killed at least two people, according to local health officials. The airstrike hit a vehicle, and two other people were injured. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military had killed Mohammad Abu Elwan, who they described as a senior Hamas finance official. Nidal al-Mughrabi and Steven Scheer report for Reuters.
The International Court of Justice yesterday confirmed Colombia withdrew its declaration of intervention from South Africa’s case alleging Israel violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Around 150 Catholic clergy members and nuns yesterday marched to the Vatican and prayed in front of St. Peter’s Basilica to call for an end to the “genocide” in Gaza. The “Priests Against Genocide” network was formed in Aug. 2025, and currently includes over 2,500 priests and bishops from five continents, according to organizers. Protestors carried a banner down the main boulevard leading to the Vatican bearing the names of 300 children who died during Israel’s war in Gaza. AP News reports.
WEST BANK DEVELOPMENTS
A group of U.S. Senate Democrats today will introduce legislation to sanction individuals or groups that facilitate Israel’s E1 settlement project in the West Bank, according to a copy of the legislation seen by Reuters. The bill has at least 10 co-sponsors. Patricia Zegerle reports.
Trump’s Board of Peace will unveil a six-month, $2.45 billion recovery plan for Gaza at a meeting of its members today. The 66-project proposal offers one of the most comprehensive roadmaps for what the early months of post-war reconstruction and governance in Gaza would look like. At the moment, the Board of Peace and the Palestinian technocratic government have not secured the entire $2.45 billion. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday dismissed Trump’s claims that peace was secured in Gaza. Macron said not a single humanitarian corridor had been reopened in the enclave despite the proclaimed peace, and that the world was witnessing a spectacle that should shame everyone. Steve Holland reports for Reuters.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged C$100 million in assistance for Palestine, including C$80 million in humanitarian aid and C$20 million for peace and security efforts. Carney made the pledge ahead of a meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Macron, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan to discuss a two-state solution and the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2803. Jalen Beckford reports for POLITICO.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russian airstrikes at businesses and storage facilities in Ukraine overnight injured seven people across the country, according to local authorities. AP News reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday told the Wall Street Journal he had asked Trump for a “winter package” of new military equipment and believes the United States will pursue a deal to halt attacks on energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy discussed his meeting with Trump in the interview, and singled out India, Turkey, and China for supporting Russia in the war. James T. Areddy reports.
Ukraine is ready to sign a landmark drone defense deal with the United States, sources told CBS News. Zelenskyy is ready to sign the deal on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, but the sources said the deal may instead be finalized at a later date, when the United States is ready to sign. Aidan Stretch reports.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an interview yesterday alleged that U.S. linked oil infrastructure has been targeted in recent weeks by Ukraine during the war. Rubio said it was “probably not” deliberate, and it was not immediately clear what specific incidents Rubio was referencing. Nicholas Kerr reports for ABC News
NATO’s Deputy Commander in Europe Air Chief Mar. Sir John Stringer yesterday told AP News that Russian President Vladimir Putin is becoming “increasingly cavalier, dangerous and risk accepting.” Stringer warned that NATO members need to be aware of the “febrile environment” and be careful in their response because Putin wants to provoke NATO into an “overreaction.” Emma Burrows reports.
The EU will remove sanctions on Russian-linked oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, while extending sanctions on nearly 3,000 other individuals and entities for three years. Latvia initially opposed the deal but agreed to the compromise, while Ukrainian officials called the move “unacceptable,” and said that “Moscow is celebrating” because it got a “sense of impunity” and the “humiliation of the EU.” Robert Greenall reports for BBC News.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today pardoned a French national imprisoned for espionage. European diplomats told Reuters that France had privately indicated that Azerbaijan was using sanctions on Usmanov to pressure France over two French citizens held in Azerbaijan. Nailia Bagirova and Dominique Vidalon report.
SUDANESE CIVIL WAR
The United States is withholding a visa for Sudanese Army Chief Fattah al-Burhan ahead of his scheduled U.N. appearance, in a move that Sudanese sources say is linked to a U.S. backed ceasefire proposal that Sudan has resisted. A senior Sudanese source told Reuters that Burhan had postponed his trip to New York but had yet to receive official notice that the visa had been denied. Daphne Psaledakis, Nafisa Eltahir, Antoni Slodkowski, and Khalid Abdelaziz report.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday called on the U.N. to remove from its charter references to defeated World War II countries as “enemy states.” The term was recently weaponized by China and Russia to put pressure on Japan over its plan to increase spending on defense. Jason Douglas reports for the Wall Street Journal.
The International Criminal Court today convicted a former Seleka militia leader from the Central African Republic, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, of crimes against humanity. Abdel Kani was accused of running a prison where suspected supporters of then-President Francois Bozize were beaten and tortured, and was found guilty on four counts of crimes against humanity including persecution and torture. Stephanie van den Berg reports for Reuters.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense has found 97 million new documents, some of which may be relevant to a public inquiry into allegations that British special forces murdered people in Afghanistan, according to a letter written by Ministry of Defense lawyers published yesterday. The inquiry’s chair Charles Haddon-Cave said the late appearance of documents “has the capacity to delay the important work of this inquiry.” Sam Tobin reports for Reuters; Joshua Rozenburg reports.
CLIMATE DEVELOPMENTS
A report released by Campaign for Nature and Together for the Ocean today said that governments are set to fall well short of meeting a major U.N. target to protect and conserve biodiversity in at least 30% of the world’s land and seas by 2030. The findings are in line with an official progress report due to be submitted to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity conference next month. David Stanway reports for Reuters.
U.S. AI DEVELOPMENTS
Meta has been testing a “human concierge” for its new personal AI assistant, Muse, which entails having human contractors quietly handle some of the calls placed via the AI agent, according to internal company posts seen by Reuters. The posts showed that some employees raised privacy concerns about humans handling calls, warning that the approach could result in sensitive information being shared unintentionally with contractors in call centers. Katie Paul reports.
Anthropic and medical knowledge platform OpenEvidence yesterday announced that they are collaborating to bring AI-powered clinical decision support to physicians in regions without access to the technology. The new initiative is a specialized version of OpenEvidence available to healthcare providers for free in dozens of low- and middle-income countries. Nancy Lapid reports for Reuters.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Hugging Face co-founder Clément Delangue are set to brief the U.N. Security council today. Altman plans to urge world leaders to adopt benchmarks for measuring AI capabilities and assessing the safeguards companies put in place as they develop the technology. A source said the main objective of the meeting was to point out the practical risks of AI losing control in ways that affect international security and the security of individual states. Michelle Nichols, John Irish, and Courtney Rozen report for Reuters.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday proposed a new AI safety “notification mechanism” during a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, sources told POLITICO. The sources said the proposed channel would allow Bessent and He to contact one another in the event of an AI-related incident with national security implications. Megan Messerly, Phelim Kine, and Ari Hawkins report.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The wife of Youlin Chen, a U.S. expert on North Korean nuclear tests who has been imprisoned in China since late 2024, yesterday told Reuters the White House has assured her that Trump will ask Chinese President Xi Jinping to free her husband when the pair meet this week. Yufang Rong said she feared that China planned to try her husband on fabricated espionage charges even though his U.S. funded research was openly published. Jonathan Landay reports.
Trump yesterday urged members of the ICC to resign. Trump condemned the ICC as an “out of control institution,” and an “evil group of people,” and said the United States would not allow its military personnel to be subject to what he called show trials by an anti-American tribunal. Jacob Bogage reports for Reuters.
State Department officials this week are expected to announce that 14 Latin American and Caribbean Nations are labeling 25 criminal groups as terrorist organizations, according to sources. The joint statement will be announced on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Annie Correal and Edward Wong report for the New York Times.
Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodriguez yesterday met Trump for the first time. Rodriguez called the meeting a historic step towards strengthening ties with the United States. Luc Cohen and Marianna Parraga report for Reuters.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
The State Department is planning to welcome up to 17,500 additional White Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees from October, according to a notice sent to Congress yesterday and obtained by CBS News. The notice informed Congress that the Trump administration is planning to allocate 17,500 refugee spots for the fiscal year 2027, and that they will “primarily” go to Arikaners. Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports.
A federal court yesterday temporarily blocked the deportation of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, and scheduled an in-person hearing for Sep. 30. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Garces Perez is receiving “some of the best medical care he’s ever received”, and denied ICE involvement in the decision to leave the bullet in Garces Pereze’s back. Jack Morphet reports for the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The FBI National Press Office yesterday said it is investigating a possible breach into its online jobs portal, after cybercrime group ShinyHunters publicly claimed to have stolen personal information of FBI personnel. The group provided a sample of stolen data to 404 Media, which included names, home addresses, phone numbers, and information of agents’ spouses. Sources believe the group’s claims are credible, and amount to a significant counterintelligence failure. Joseph Cox reports; John Sakellariadis, Maggie Miller, and Elleiana Green report for POLITICO.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday announced that the Pentagon is changing the process for promotion to the rank of general in an effort to “cut bureaucracy and demand true meritocracy.” The new evaluation, called the Joint Warfighter Evaluation, is intended to screen the officers on “their ability to fight, adapt, and win.” The current system that is being phased out has promotion boards consider officers via their accumulated evaluations from their superiors throughout their careers. Ellen Mitchell and Filip Timotija report for The Hill.
Vice President JD Vance yesterday announced that more than 750,000 enrollees in the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces have been ejected. Vance said many were receiving premium subsidies they did not qualify for and that some were not real people, and estimated that the removals would save the government $2.2 billion. Margot Sanger-Katz, Sarah Kliff, and Christopher Rowland report for the New York Times.
Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) on Monday called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the business dealings and relationships of presidential family members. Curtis urged the committee to subpoena Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden as part of a broader probe into “the use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit, preferential treatment, or access by domestic and foreign interests.” Theodoric Meyer reports for the Washington Post.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter yesterday said that the Justice Department charged Postal Service letter carrier Matai Seei, who allegedly threw out more than 300 mail ballots that were being sent to voters for the state’s June primary. Seei pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of destruction or delay of mail. Mike Catalini and Hannah Schoenbaum report for AP News.
The Department of Health and Human Services informed congressional appropriators earlier this year that it was moving around $12 million from its Office of Minority Health to cover the increasing cost of security for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to sources and a document reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The security cost for Kennedy grew from $10 million in fiscal year 2025 to $17 million in fiscal year 2026, and sources said Kennedy’s office has a large pot of discretionary money that it could have used for the cost. Liz Essley Whyte reports.
States governed by both Democrats and Republicans may have added more than 30,000 self-declared non-citizens to the voter rolls since 2000 because of software glitches and clerical errors made while processing their driver’s license and state ID applications, according to official records reviewed by Reuters. Reuters could not verify how many of these non-citizens actually cast a ballot. David Morgan reports.
Opponents of the Republican-drawn Missouri election map have again asked the Supreme Court to block the map in a definitive ruling. It is the third time the issue has reached the Supreme Court in the past few weeks, and the new emergency appeal asks Justice Brett Kavanaugh to block this week’s unusual decision from a federal appellate panel which claimed using older maps would be unconstitutional. Kavanaugh has ordered state officials and Republican candidates supporting the new map to respond by 2pm today. Josh Gerstein reports for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
White House officials in a court filing yesterday said that Trump had determined that CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO had breached standards of conduct, leading to their expulsion from the White House grounds. The alleged violations include “trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues, and publishing sensitive or classified information.” The filing states that access to the White House “is a privilege- not a right,” and that Trump’s action does not violate the First Amendment, but instead aligns with a long history of presidents favoring some journalists over others. Erik Wemple 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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