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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
The U.S. Defense Department instructed U.S. Central Command several days ago to conclude preparations for resuming major combat operations in Iran, U.S. officials told Axios. The directive didn’t include a specific date for resuming strikes, but U.S. and Israeli sources say it could happen before the U.S. midterm elections. Barak Ravid reports.
IRAN WAR – YEMEN
Attacks claimed by the Iran-aligned Houthis on two airports in Saudi Arabia yesterday killed three people and wounded 36 others, according to the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation. The attacks damaged an airport in the capital Riyadh and one in the southern city of Abha, close to the Yemen border. Summer Said reports for the Wall Street Journal.
Syria is in discussions with Saudi Arabia to send its troops to Yemen to join the counteroffensive against the Houthis, U.S. officials told Axios. The Trump administration has been consulted by both countries and is not opposed in principle to the move. Barak Ravid reports.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday visited the USS Abraham Lincoln and gave the crew the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor a unit can receive. The award is typically reserved for significant achievement in combat, and was given for “40 days of combat operations and an ironclad maritime blockade against Iran in support of Operation Epic Fury.” Konstantin Toropin reports for AP News.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
The FlyDubai co-pilot who allegedly tried to hijack the plane to Tel Aviv told investigators he was motivated to commit the attack because of the situation in Gaza, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Hamam al-Hammami had also sought out airlines and routes that would take him to Israel and almost carried out an attack in July before reconsidering because he cared about one of the crew members on the flight he was scheduled to hijack. Summer Said and Anat Peled report.
WEST BANK DEVELOPMENTS
An Israeli settler attack while Palestinians were harvesting olives near the village of Burqa in the Israeli-occupied West Bank yesterday killed one man, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The Israeli military said both soldiers and settlers had opened fire during the attack, and that soldiers were responding to a report of a Palestinian throwing a rock at a settler but did not say why the settlers were in the area. Mohammed Torokman reports for Reuters.
Top aide to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, David Milstein, skewed and suppressed multiple reports and pieces of information that were critical of Israel, according to documents reviewed by the New York Times. Milstein’s efforts attempted to present the Israeli government in a positive light to the Trump administration after Trump’s explicit red lines for Israel, which included no annexation of the West Bank. Natan Odenheimer and Adam Rasgon report.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar today said most U.K. diplomats will leave the British consulate in Jerusalem, and said seven would remain “with a very limited scope of activity.” U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said some staff had been “temporarily withdrawn” for security reasons, but stressed the mission will “work with the Palestinian people.” Adam Goldsmith and James Landale report for BBC News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
A Russian bomb attack on the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk today killed at least 33 people and injured another 18, according to local authorities. The authorities described the attack as a targeted strike on civilians and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the location as a bus stop. Donetsk region Gov. Vadym Filashkin said a bus with passengers “is an attractive target” for Russia because “one strike can kill as many people as possible.” Dan Peleschuk reports for Reuters.
Russia’s leading AI and technology company Yandex today said Ukrainian drones hit one of their data centers. The attack marks the first major attack on a Russian data hub since the start of the war. Yandex said its core consumer services were not affected, but did not describe the extent of the damage. Gleb Stolyarov and Gleb Bryanski report for Reuters.
Bulgarian President Iliana Yotova yesterday said Russia’s war in Ukraine had led to a “significant deterioration” in security in the Black Sea region. Yotova did not blame Russia for strikes on ships in Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast because there’s an ongoing investigation by Bulgarian authorities. Veselin Toshkov reports for AP News.
Top U.S. and Russian officials, including Special Envoy Jared Kushner and close advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kirill Dmitriev, have held talks about bringing a U.S. investor into the Nord Stream pipelines that delivered gas to Germany before Russia invaded Ukraine, sources told Reuters. Kushner views doing business as central to restoring peace. John O’Donnell, Gram Slattery, and David Gauthier-Villars report.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Russian health regulator Rospotrebnadzor yesterday said the researcher at an anti-plague institution who died from pneumonia had been vaccinated against the pathogens she worked with and that no “emergency situations” had occurred at the lab. The health regulator said two commissions monitoring biological safety had inspected the institute and no emergency situations were identified “during work with pathogenic microorganisms.” Paul Sonne reports for the New York Times.
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham will today hold talks on tackling cyber-security threats and sabotage with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Downing Street said deeper co-operation in the face of rising hybrid threats from Russia would be high on the agenda during Burnham’s first official visit to Germany. Jennifer McKiernan and Jessica Parker report for BBC News.
Head of Counter-Terrorism Policing London Cdr. Helen Flanagan today said Royal Navy service member Teddy Young has been charged with spying for an unnamed foreign country. Police said the charges were not related to the recent Royal Air Force Fairford incident. Cachella Smith reports for BBC News.
Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old Spanish woman whose eviction last month sparked mass housing protests that led to an early election, yesterday died, according to the Madrid tenants’ union. Abascal had been in hospital for severe anxiety and exhaustion since her Sep. 23 eviction from her home of more than 70 years. Before her death, Spain’s two largest unions, UGT and CCOO, announced a nationwide general strike over housing issues scheduled for Nov. 11. Pietro Lombardi and Corina Pons report for Reuters; Mireia Merino and David Latona report for Reuters.
Ermiyas Ababu, a commander of the Ethiopian government-aligned Tigray Peace Force today said Eritrean soldiers entered the towns of Adigrat on Tuesday and Idaga Hamus yesterday in Northern Ethiopia. Ababu said Eritrean military officers were conducting surveillance in Idaga Hamus. Separately conflict monitoring group ACLED said Eritrean troops crossed the border at Zelambesa yesterday and Ethiopian military drones targeted them at Guada as they travelled toward Idaga Hamus. AP News reports.
A Human Rights Watch report released yesterday said hundreds of detainees in El Salvador are having simultaneous joint hearings that result in near-universal convictions for gang-related offenses. Lawyers and HRW reported widespread violations of international human rights conventions in these trials. James Wagner reports for the New York Times.
A Chinese militia boat was spotted along with two other vessels off Taiwan’s Pacific coast in August, according to a surveillance report reviewed by Reuters. The sighting is the first of its kind in the area. Yimou Lee reports.
CLIMATE DEVELOPMENTS
The World Wide Fund for Nature Living Planet Report released today highlighted multiple signs of wildlife recoveries, which the WWF said shows conservation can work. The report also found that monitored wildlife populations around the world have fallen by an average of 73% since 1970, and that nature remains in “freefall,” but called the report one of hope. Justin Rowlatt reports for BBC News.
Turkish Climate Minister and president of this year’s U.N. COP31 conference Murat Kurum today said restricting global warming is a matter of survival and too many countries are shirking their responsibilities to cut emissions. Peter Hobson reports for Reuters.
U.S. AI DEVELOPMENTS
A Common Sense Media report released yesterday said some of the guardrails OpenAI included in its ChatGPT for Teens product don’t work as intended and the chatbot poses an “unacceptable risk” to children. The watchdog group urged OpenAI to restrict the chatbot to adults “until it can offer a safe, developmentally appropriate experience.” Barbara Ortutay reports for AP News.
President Trump will today attend a summit meant to empower scientists and position the United States as a leader in breakthroughs driven by “super intelligence,” according to an announcement first shared with Axios. Maria Curi and Alex Isenstadt report.
New company National Compute plans to donate $100 million worth of computing credits to the Trump administration to be used to advance scientific discovery. The credits are expected to be announced today at an event with White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios. Sophia Cai and Katie Roof report for POLITICO.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Former Syrian Gen. Bassam al-Hassan, wanted for crimes against humanity, is being bankrolled and protected by U.S. and Lebanese authorities, a joint BBC News and NPR investigation has found. al-Hassan is being harboured in Lebanon, and was allowed to remain there under an arrangement involving the FBI and other U.S. and Lebanese authorities due to his willingness to provide information about the abduction of U.S. journalist Austin Tice in Syria in 2012, as well as additional intelligence. Sara Obeidat and Josh Baker report.
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are expected to face new charges over the alleged torture of U.S. citizens who were held in Venezuelan government custody in recent years, sources told CNN. An announcement could come as soon as today. Flores’ lawyers today are set to urge a judge to free her from jail and put her under house arrest because she has heart problems. Evan Perez, Hannah Rabinowitz, Kara Scannell, and Jennifer Hansler report; Philip Marcelo and Larry Neumeister report for AP News.
The Trump administration has begun direct talks with Myanmar’s military-installed government, sources told Reuters. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Michael Vance played a leading role in the outreach, which has focused on shutting down scam centers that target U.S. citizens, but could lead to broader engagement, including on Myanmar’s rare-earth mineral deposits. Simon Lewis reports.
The State Department pressured diplomatic officials from the EU, Canada, and Lithuania to pull out of an international conference on disinformation hosted in Lithuania yesterday and today, called #Disinfo2026, after organizers announced panels warning of the threat posed by U.S. government officials and the country’s influence broadly, according to excerpts of a State Department cable seen by POLITICO. The conference’s sessions such as “foreign information manipulation and interference” bothered the Trump administration. Eliza Gkritsi, Nahal Toosi, and Jack Detsch report.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said the Trump administration’s “unapologetic pursuit of national power” offers a model to revive Western power rather than threaten alliances. During a speech on the Pynx in Athens, Greece Rubio added that the course “we take will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world or resigns itself to a future of atrophy and servitude and decline.” Vera Bergengruen and Robbie Gramer report for the Wall Street Journal.
Federal authorities in Florida and Texas yesterday seized over 600,000 gallons of biodiesel bound for Cuba. The special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Miami José R. Figueroa said the shipments “reflect a deliberate and coordinated effort to supply” the sanctioned company ENETEC S.A.. David Ovalle and David C. Adams report for the New York Times.
Foreign workers building the new U.S. consulate compound in Milan, Italy, yesterday signed agreements securing payouts averaging $50,400 each for alleged labor abuses while working for U.S. company Caddell Construction. More than 60 laborers, mostly from India, signed the deals to receive their share of the nearly $35 million settlement agreed last month with the company. Colleen Barry reports for AP News.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
Brazilian Danilo Alves Silva yesterday was charged with multiple felonies for impersonating an ICE officer at a Miami polling site during the Brazilian presidential election on Sunday. Silva is facing felony counts of voter intimidation, conspiracy to commit bribery, and influencing a public servant, alongside two misdemeanors. The polling site was one of about a dozen locations in the United States where Brazilians living abroad could vote in their country’s general election. Laura Chung and Remy Tumin report for the New York Times.
ICE has quietly used a warehouse in Roxbury, New Jersey as a detention facility all summer, sources told NPR. The warehouse was one piece of a one billion-dollar plan by the Department of Homeland Security to detain migrants which would convert warehouses into detention centers. The plan was largely abandoned after it faced backlash and legal challenges from residents and immigrant advocates. An official at a government contractor whose company was approached to convert several of the warehouses into ICE facilities said no one “we spoke to at DHS was for this idea whatsoever. The deputy director told us point-blank that they had pushed back very hard on it.” and that White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller “did not want the facilities that were comfortable. He did not want facilities that were humane. We were told point-blank that that was not what the administration wanted.” Jasmine Garsd reports.
DHS yesterday proposed significantly raising fees for international students seeking Optional Practical Training and for applications for program extensions. The current fee is around $500 and typically paid for by the students, but under the proposals schools would have to pay $70,000 for each student seeking OPT and $30,000 for program extensions. Bianca Quilantan reports for POLITICO.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
House Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) yesterday introduced legislation that would direct the Smithsonian to preserve and display artifacts he said reflect the rise of “governmental propaganda” under Trump. Avery Lotz reports for Axios.
State Attorney Generals representing 39 states and Washington D.C. yesterday signed an amicus brief that urged the Supreme Court to take up a case brought forth by New Jersey which seeks to overturn an appellate court ruling that found federal law regulating commodity trading superseded the state’s gambling laws. The case concerns prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. Ashley Ahn reports for POLITICO.
Ambassador of the United States to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle pushed Trump donor Eric Deters to transfer her $100,000 that she said she owed American Express before her confirmation as ambassador, according to messages reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. Guilfoyle offered to use her sway as the former fiancee of Donald Trump Jr., but Deters did not pay her. Dana Mattioli, Drew Hinshaw, Rebecca Ballhaus, and Joe Parkinson report.
Leon Botstein, who had ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, yesterday resigned from all his positions affiliated with Bard College. The announcement came the same day the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Bard leaders saying that while Botstein was president, he “likely enabled and possibly even participated in” Epstein’s abuse. Vimal Patel reports for the New York Times.
A military judge yesterday excluded the latest disputed confessions of a prisoner accused of conspiring in the 9/11 attacks. The statements were obtained through a program designed by former President Bush’s administration lawyers in 2007 because the defendants’ previous statement to the C.I.A. were considered coerced and could not be used against them. The judge ruled that the agents failed to notify Walid bin Attash that what the C.I.A. extracted from him from 2003 to 2006 in forced interrogations could not be used against him, and also found that when F.B.I. agents brought treats to their interrogation room to gain bin Attash’s cooperation, they were copying a technique sometimes used by the C.I.A. to keep a prisoner confessing. Carol Rosenberg reports for the New York Times.
A group of current and former Lincoln University students yesterday filed a lawsuit against Missouri for nearly $549 million. The suit argues that the state spent decades illegally underfunding the historically black university. The suit will test a 19th century federal law that envisioned equitable public financing for institutions that were created as havens for Black Americans. Alan Blinder reports for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTION
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson yesterday said the union has safety concerns about Trump’s proposed triumphal arch that will be on final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Nelson said the arch compounds multiple safety concerns that have gone unaddressed from a deadly Jan. 2025 crash over the Potomac River that killed 67 people. Gary Fields reports for AP News.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning a broad federal effort to address vaccine injuries, including a new research clinic at the National Institutes of Health and a new billing code to reimburse doctors for filing reports of serious vaccine side effects, sources told the New York Times. Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports.
Trump yesterday said he will help pay for his administration’s campaign-style advertisements after the Democratic National Committee sued over their use of taxpayer money. The suit accuses Trump of personally directing illegal government-sponsored propaganda. A coalition including nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause filed a separate lawsuit that also alleges illegal misuse of funds. Josephine Walker reports for Axios; Ali Swenson reports for AP News.
Trump yesterday threatened to fire two of his top political consultants, Chris LaCivita and James Blair, if he finds a conflict after reports that they advised a Russia-aligned government ahead of local elections there. Trump on social media said they “do not work for me, other than as outside consultants.” Josephine Walker and Marc Caputo report for Axios.
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