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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 the United States would not attack Iran before the U.S. midterms, and added that the two countries were having “productive discussions.” Despite Trump’s comments, U.S. officials told the New York Times that the military is still preparing options to restart major combat operations. Barak Ravid reports for Axios; Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt report.
IRAN WAR – YEMEN
The Saudi civil aviation authority today said strikes by the Iran-aligned Houthis on Riyadh airport yesterday killed three people and injured several others. The strikes also damaged a Saudi Airlines plane and sent smoke over the airport which caused many airlines to cancel flights to the Saudi capital days before it is due to host a major meeting of global oil chiefs. Timour Azhari and Tala Ramadan report for Reuters.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln yesterday returned to its home port of San Diego, California. The Lincoln left San Diego on Nov. 21, 2025, and nearly broke the record for the longest carrier deployment since the Vietnam War despite facing food shortages and logistical issues since the Iran war began. Jan Ransom and John Ismay report for the New York Times.
Two Iranian nationals accused of being tasked by Iran to carry out hostile surveillance on the Israeli Embassy in London and other significant Israeli and Jewish landmarks today pleaded not guilty to the charges. The pair denied a single offense under the National Security Act, and will remain in custody ahead of their trial due to begin in Apr. 2027. Sam Tobin reports for Reuters.
The Acers, an oil and chemical tanker, late Wednesday was struck by several projectiles, causing casualties, according to maritime intelligence firm Vanguard and U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Agency. Georgi Kantchev reports for the Wall Street Journal.
WEST BANK DEVELOPMENTS
Palestinian Vice President Hussein Al Sheikh yesterday informed French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot that a Palestinian legislative election planned for Nov. 28 will be postponed for several months because of worsening conditions through the Palestinian territories, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The letter said that the assessment “concluded that the anticipated political, security and economic conditions, on which the scheduling of the legislative elections… was based, have not materialized.” John Irish reports.
U.S. Charity Gaza Children Village last month laid out plans to use AI to monitor classroom conversations and flag speech deemed “hateful” or “inciting.” The plans raised ethical, safety, and privacy concerns from some Palestinian and advocacy groups, and at least one of the charity’s partners. Sam Mednick reports for AP News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday accused the United States of being unwilling to help Ukraine after a Russian bomb attack killed at least 35 people in eastern Ukraine, taking the two-day death toll in the country to over 70. Zelenskyy criticized U.S. efforts to pursue economic ties with Russia while also seeking to mediate the war. Yuliia Dysa and Max Hunder report for Reuters.
Ukraine today struck and partly disabled a data center operated by Russian technology company Yandex, a day after it hit a similar but more significant facility. Yandex said its data center in Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, had been struck by Ukrainian drones and partly put out of action. Gleb Stolyarov and Darya Korsunskaya report for Reuters.
U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will today meet with Ukrainian negotiators and European officials in Miami, Florida to present “new ideas and proposals” to break the stalemate in the war in Ukraine, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. One of the ideas is a partial ceasefire that halts attacks on energy infrastructure and grain shipments. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry yesterday said it will recall its ambassador to Ukraine Park Ki-chang, stepping up its protest against Zelenskyy’s recent revelation of a supposedly secret transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said Ukraine remains open to “constructive dialogue” despite South Korea’s decision to recall its ambassador. Hyung-Jin Kim reports for AP News.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
German Chancellor Friederich Merz is “deeply outraged” by former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s home to celebrate Putin’s birthday this week, according to a German government spokesperson today. The spokesperson said “Putin alone is responsible for the war in Ukraine,” and it is “downright immoral for Mr. Schroeder to attend such a celebration.” Emmanuel Berro and Friederike Heine report for Reuters.
Spiegel magazine today reported that former German spy chief August Hanning had longstanding contacts with former senior Chinese Gen. Wang Jianzheng. Hanning had travelled to China several times, where he knew the former official who had served in China’s embassy in formerly communist East Germany. James Mackenzie reports for Reuters.
Two Latvian men were arrested Wednesday evening after a fence was breached at Royal Air Force Molesworth, according to Counter Terrorism Policing London. The RAF base is used by the U.S. military and NATO for intelligence operations. Cdr. Helen Flanagan said officers were not currently linking it to the incident in RAF Fairford. Helen Burchell reports for BBC News.
U.K. Green Party leader Zack Polanski today vowed to stay on as party leader despite his loss in the by-election for the London seat of Holborn and St. Pancreas. The leader of the Jewish Greens Vivien Lichtenstein said Polanski should resign after the loss and added that it was a “big mistake” for him to have dodged a debate about a party conference motion that declared Zionism a form of racism. Labour MP Sagal Abdi-Wali held onto the seat for the party after former U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer stepped down last month and triggered the by-election. Ewan Somerville and Harry Farley report for BBC News.
The U.K. High Court yesterday was told Thames Valley Police has accepted the warrants it used to search former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s homes during his February arrest were unlawful. The items seized in the raid continue to be held by the police, and a further hearing set to take place in 2027 will determine whether the material can be used as evidence. The judge said that the fact the search warrants “were quashed does not bring the investigation to an end or mean that the whole of the investigation is unlawful.” Lucy Manning, Aleks Phillips, and Dominic Casciani report for BBC News.
French student unions today vowed to keep up protests about the underfunding and conditions in French public schools after scoring what they called their first win yesterday when French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said the Education Ministry is in the process of urgently contacting around 3,000 spare teachers who could be sent to schools with the most pressing needs. Student and teacher unions have called for another round of nationwide school strikes next Tuesday. The movement has fueled similar student protests in Belgium. Makini Brice and Dominique Vidalon report for Reuters.
Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Aboudi on Wednesday told AP News Iraq has rejected Syria’s request to repatriate thousands of suspected Islamic State members transferred from Syrian detention centers to Iraqi custody earlier this year. A meeting had been held between the two countries and the United States. Iraq determined about 400 detainees were not members of Islamic State and can be released and around 50 have already been repatriated. Al-Aboudi added that investigations are underway and “anyone proven to have committed crimes in Iraq will be tried under Iraqi law.” Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Abby Sewell report.
Myanmar’s President U Min Aung Hlaing yesterday met with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Malaysia. The pair held a summit on the repatriation of Myanmar asylum-seekers in Malaysia and investment opportunities in Myanmar. Hannah Beech and Zunaira Saieed report for the New York Times.
A Brazilian Supreme Court Justice yesterday issued an arrest warrant for the brother of presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, Eduardo Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro lives in Texas, and was sentenced in June to four years in prison in Brazil for lobbying the Trump administration to impose sanctions against members of the Brazilian government and implement higher tariffs on Brazil’s exports during the trial of his father and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Mauricio Savarese reports for AP News.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday said that Canada’s future will be decided by Canadians, pushing back against SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s call for Quebec, Alberta, and Saskatchewan to separate from Canada. Carney said Canadians should be free to live according to their languages and cultures without interference from “foreign governments and large tech firms that think they can tell us what to do.” AP News reports.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos yesterday told the U.N. an “all-out invasion” by Eritrean forces left Ethiopia no choice but to defend itself, according to a letter shared with Reuters today. It is the government’s first official statement on reported incursions by Eritrean troops. Dawit Endeshaw reports for Reuters.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres yesterday warned that neurotechnologies are advancing so rapidly that governments’ ability to access and manipulate people’s brains could one day pose a threat to fundamental human rights. Guterres warned the technology could lead to arbitrary detentions, the alteration of people’s mental states and infringements on privacy. Jonathan Moens reports for the New York Times.
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 was today awarded to South African human rights lawyer Navi Pillay for her efforts to promote peace, human rights, and international law. Pillay has played key roles in international justice, serving on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, and chaired the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territories. The Nobel Committee said that it wishes to “issue a reminder that the ability to resolve conflicts without force or violence is dependent on the international rule of law.” Emmet Livingstone and Esme Nicholson report for NPR.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will say in his national day speech tomorrow that boosting defenses and spending more on the military is not a “provocation,” but a reflection of the Taiwanese people’s hope to maintain peace and freedom, an official said. Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard report for Reuters.
U.S. AI DEVELOPMENTS
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike on Wednesday said a recent string of cyberattacks against banks in South Korea may have been carried out by a hacker using Chinese and U.S. AI tools. The firm said the attacker used ARTEX, a recently released open source tool developed in China, and AI tools including Anthropic’s Claude Code. Laura Chung and Pei-Lin Wu report for the New York Times.
Anthropic yesterday told Axios that the company is launching a new cybersecurity initiative designed to bring its most powerful AI models and engineers to companies protecting power grids, water utilities, and other critical infrastructure. The Critical Infrastructure Defense Program will ensure critical infrastructure operators will be able to stop cyberattacks which have been made easier and cheaper to execute due to AI’s development. Sam Sabin reports.
Anthropic CEO Peter Thiel yesterday escalated his attacks on critics of AI and accused former President Obama and Pope Leo XIV of exploiting public fears about AI, according to recordings of his closed-door Antichrist lectures obtained by POLITICO. Thiel sees the Antichrist as a figure who will try to stop the progress of technology and advocate for a “one world government” of regulation. Thiel suggested the pope’s criticism of AI was an attempt to divert attention from the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandals. Calder McHugh reports.
Trump yesterday called anyone who uses “Artificial Intelligence” instead of “Super Intelligence” “THE ENEMY!” The White House has continued using the term AI, such as on the Office of Science and Technology Policy website. Herb Scribner reports for Axios.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The FBI and Justice Department yesterday announced the seizure of scanning and phishing tools used by a group of hackers that officials say is associated with the Chinese government and is believed to be responsible for disruptive cyber operations in the United States and elsewhere. The tools, called “Microscan” and “FishHub,” were used by hackers to scan, phish, and hack targets that included U.S. and foreign critical infrastructure. Safiyah Riddle reports for AP News.
Prosecutors yesterday accused former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores of orchestrating the torture of people held in Maduro’s regime’s custody. The indictment charges the pair with conspiracy to commit torture and alleges they engaged in a conspiracy to inflict “severe physical and mental pain and suffering to repress and punish political opposition.” Avery Lotz reports for Axios.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday arrived in Portugal. Rubio told reporters that U.S. pressure on NATO allies to increase their defense spending “is not a hostile thing,” and added that the stronger NATO is “the stronger the deterrence is.” Matthew Lee and Barry Hatton report for AP News.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
Laotian deportee Thongxay Nilakout yesterday left for Laos from South Sudan after he had been deported to the African nation by the United States, an ordeal his attorney said could have been avoided. Nilakout had been detained in South Sudan’s capital Juba since Jul. 2025, but his attorney said Nilakout had been willing to return to Laos before the United States deported him. Deng Machol and Joseph Falzetta report for AP News.
The family of Mexican immigrant Silverio Villegas Gonzalez yesterday filed a wrongful-death claim accusing an ICE officer of “effectively executing” him at close range when he was shot during the Trump administration’s immigration surge in Chicago last year. Gonzalez was stopped in Franklin Park after he dropped off his two young sons at school, and the family’s attorneys said what happened next has become part of a “larger pattern of killings by the federal government.” The legal claim alleges that ICE officers violated the Department of Homeland Security’s use-of-force policy and were encouraged to act recklessly by senior officials who imposed high arrest quotas. Ted Hesson reports for the Washington Post.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) yesterday demanded Trump end “all ICE enforcement actions in our city” after an ICE officer shot a man in Manhattan. Early reports said ICE agents surrounded the man and a 5-year-old child in a car before firing multiple rounds, according to Mamdani, and the NYPD said the man was in stable condition. Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec said the mayor had not been able to reach the president as of 8 p.m. Thursday. Joe Anuta and Chris Sommerfeldt report for POLITICO.
Nonpartisan government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington yesterday filed a complaint with the U.S. Office for Special Counsel over a press release made by the DHS about the arrest of a Nigerian man for indecent exposure that claimed he worked for Democratic House candidate for Pennsylvania Janelle Stelson. Deputy Director of ICE Charles Wall said it was “unbelievable that Janelle Stelson would employ an illegal alien to work on a congressional campaign.” A police report said the man had fliers for Stelson in his vehicle, but the DHS did not respond to questions about how it established the man worked for Stelson, which Stelson’s campaign denied. Marc Levy reports for AP News.
The Trump administration is considering using ships to deport migrants to Central and South America on journeys that could take days and cost millions of dollars, U.S. officials told the New York Times. Discussions are still preliminary, but possible ships have been identified, and Defense Department officials have also reached out to companies about ships in Europe. Hamed Aleaziz reports.
Vice President JD Vance yesterday announced it was suspending Microsoft and several other firms from the H-1B visas program, and also took aim at universities that bring international students to the United States on exchange programs. Vance accused Microsoft of abusing the visa program to undercut U.S. citizens from employment. The announcement came hours before Trump awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Seung Min Kim, Rebecca Santana, and Barbara Ortutay report for AP News.
The Trump administration has ordered U.S. diplomats to examine certain visa and travel files from 2020 onward to find instances of people traveling to the United States to give birth, according to a State Department cable sent worldwide on Tuesday obtained by POLITICO. The cable provides guidance on how to handle “suspected birth tourism cases.” Nahal Toosi reports.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The NFL yesterday urged the Supreme Court to allow state regulation of prediction markets. The filing told the court that the “laissez-faire” approach federal regulators are taking towards prediction markets could allow “unscrupulous actors to cause mischief, trade on inside information, and harm game integrity.” Greg Stohr reports for Bloomberg.
Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel yesterday filed a lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, alleging the state’s largest insurer used its position to drive up health costs for patients. The suit argues the insurer illegally cooperated with other Blue Cross Blue Shield companies to limit competition. Anna Wilde Mathews reports for the Wall Street Journal.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTION
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday said the military will carry out a public execution for the first time in recent history, which will include a livestream. Former Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009 and is scheduled to die by firing squad on Dec. 3, 2026. The Pentagon called his actions an act of terrorism. Leo Shane III and Mark Satter report for POLITICO.
Trump bought between $1 million to $5 million in debt issued by SpaceX days before the White House announced a new space-travel policy, according to Trump’s latest financial disclosure forms. White House spokesman Davis Ingle said that there are no conflicts of interest with the president’s transactions, and that Trump’s stock-and-bond portfolio is “independently managed” by third-party financial institutions. Cat Zakrzewski reports for the Washington Post.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The county board in Arlington, Virginia yesterday filed a lawsuit against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the National Park Service to block the construction of Trump’s proposed triumphal arch in the capital. The suit argued that the Trump administration failed to comply with a legally mandated review of the environmental impact of building the arch. Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times.
The DOJ this week presented evidence to a federal grand jury in a case against former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a key witness for a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, sources told the Washington Post. The DOJ has accused Hutchinson of lying to lawmakers when she testified about the events surrounding the attack. Prosecutors have been exploring charging Hutchinson with a civil rights violation, bringing a different case than the simple charge of lying to Congress. The investigation is being led by the Civil Rights Division in DOJ headquarters rather than the U.S. attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, who is not involved. Perry Stein and Salvador Rizzo report.
The Trump administration yesterday filed an emergency application to the Supreme Court asking the justices to intervene again in a case over whether political parties are entitled to the same low-cost TV advertisement rates as candidates in the midterms. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. temporarily paused a lower-court ruling that would have required the Federal Communications Commission to wrap up its review of a new rule to expand who can qualify for lower ad rates. He asked the challengers, a group of Democratic candidates, to respond to the Trump administration’s request to the court by Saturday at 5 p.m. Abbie VanSickle 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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