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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
Efforts by Qatari mediator Ali al-Thawadi to broker a diplomatic breakthrough between Iran and the United States have made little progress, according to sources. Al-Thawadi on Monday met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New York, and then met with U.S. envoy Jared Kushner and other U.S. officials. Qatari officials will keep trying but are growing frustrated with both sides as neither are willing to budge. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
President Trump yesterday said he does not know if Iran is going to “give up yet.” Steve Holland and Kanishka Singh report for Reuters.
U.S. forces today ended their mission in Iraq. The withdrawal of troops was celebrated as a victory by Iran and its allies. An Italian Defense Ministry statement yesterday announced that Italy had completed the withdrawal of its own troops from Iraq. Ahmed Rasheed and Muayad Hameed report for Reuters; Angelo Amante reports for Reuters.
IRAN WAR – YEMEN
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif yesterday said Pakistan will use “whatever means are available” to defend Saudi Arabia against the Iran-aligned Houthis. Asif declined to say whether Pakistani forces had already participated in airstrikes. Trisha Thomas reports for AP News.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
One of the five men arrested in the Royal Air Force Fairford case called the police in the early hours of Sunday, according to The Times. The suspect’s motives in calling the police are under investigation. Experts investigating the three vans the suspects were driving only found fuel, and not explosives. Fiona Hamilton reports.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
More than 100 Israeli settlers on Monday carried out attacks in the Palestinian village of Jalud in the occupied West Bank, and stopped a family escorted by the Israeli military from returning to their homes which had been seized by settlers weeks ago. Israel’s High Court ruled earlier this month that the al-Tubasi family must be allowed to go back to their two homes, having initially been driven out by weeks of settler harassment. The homes were set on fire and Israeli security forces were also targeted by settlers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attacks and called for the perpetrators to be prosecuted. Yolande Knell reports for BBC News; Feliz Solomon, Suha Ma’ayeh, and Anat Peled report for the Wall Street Journal.
The U.S. Senate yesterday blocked a bid to require the Trump administration to report to Congress on increasing violence in the occupied West Bank, including the deaths of U.S. citizens. The Senate voted 47 to 51 to block the resolution. Patricia Zengerle reports for Reuters.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today said five people, including a child, had been killed across Ukraine. Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky said Russia escalated massive strikes on energy infrastructure in Ukraine, after Russian drone and missile attacks hit energy infrastructure in Kyiv and nearby areas. Anna Pruchnicka and Jekaterīna Golubkova report for Reuters.
Zelenskyy yesterday said Russian glide bombs struck homes and a school in the northern Ukraine city of Sumy, killing two people and injuring six. Ron Popeski reports for Reuters.
Zelenskyy yesterday said Belgium will transfer three F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine by the end of the year to help in its war with Russia, and added that Ukraine had already received “urgent deliveries” of F-16 ammunition from Belgium, Spain, and other countries. Dan Peleschuk reports for Reuters.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service today said that Zelenskyy’s revelation of a supposedly secret transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to the South was likely meant to generate public support in South Korea for greater assistance to Ukraine. South Korean lawmaker Yoo Yeong-ha said the spy agency had told a parliament committee meeting that Ukraine had not apologized. Hyung-Jin Kim reports for AP News.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff today said that North Korea should stop its fortification work near the inter-Korean border immediately. The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, today dismissed a South Korean investigation into a recent mine blast in the Demilitarized Zone that wounded South Korean soldiers. The U.N. Command said the incident constituted a violation of the Korean War armistice. Kim accused South Korea of trying to fabricate evidence after blaming North Korea for the explosion. Heejin Kim and Hyunjoo Jin report for Reuters; Jack Kim and Kyu-Seok Shim report for Reuters.
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham yesterday said an attempt to rejoin the EU could be among the options his government considers in a push to change the United Kingdom’s relationship with the European bloc. Burnham said that the Brexit settlement created by the Conservative party had done “more harm than good.” Burnham’s government will stick to former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s promise to not rejoin the EU’s single market or customs union before the next general election. Matt Honeycombe-Foster reports for POLITICO.
Norway’s parliament today began public hearings over ties between convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Norwegian diplomats and politicians. Leader of the Norwegian parliament’s Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs Jonas Andersen said the government must explain what it is doing to restore trust in the foreign service. Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche report for Reuters.
Spain is planning to override standard migration procedures and tighten rules on asylum seeking for migrants who arrived in Ceuta during July’s mass crossing, according to a draft decree seen by Reuters. The decree is designed to speed up applications and deportations for the over 10,000 migrants who remain in the North African enclave. Spanish King Felipe VI in a state dinner yesterday said EU nations should have shown more solidarity and offered more support to Spain during the mass arrival of people in Ceuta. Victoria Waldersee and Corina Pons report; Aislinn Laing reports for Reuters.
Moroccan King Mohammed VI yesterday named Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as Prime Minister, the first female prime minister to head the Moroccan government. El Mansouri referred to her selection as “historic,” and framed it as a win for all women in Morocco. Aida Alami and Ephrat Livni report for the New York Times.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric yesterday told a U.N. briefing in New York that the latest airstrikes in Myanmar, which killed 50 people, demonstrated that conditions currently do not exist for the safe return of refugees from Malaysia. Dujarric said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns the attacks and calls on all parties to end the violence immediately. David Brunnstrom reports for Reuters.
AI DEVELOPMENTS
Chinese AI developer Moonshot is conducting an internal review after researchers were able to persuade two of its Kimi models to tell them how to make biological weapons and carry out assassinations, Mindgard told BBC News. Mindgard tests the security of AI systems, and the issue arose during a process called “jailbreaking,” where researchers use a series of complex instructions to see if AI tools ignore guardrails. Moonshot told BBC News it welcomes third-party input as a “key pillar for building better and safer AI.” Chris Vallance reports.
U.S. AI DEVELOPMENTS
Trump yesterday ruled out any sort of joint venture with China in AI, arguing it would be tantamount to “giving away secrets.” Trump said the United States was “leading by a lot” in the AI sector and did not want to “mix it up” with potential competitors. Bernd Debusmann Jr. reports for BBC News.
Trump yesterday said tech executives signed a “morally binding” constitution on AI during a White House lunch. The document encourages companies to “implement robust internal controls” to monitor the capabilities of AI models during training, and empower an internal team to ensure models do not carry out unintended hacks. Trump said he was assured that companies are placing the appropriate guardrails on their models. Gabby Miller, Katherine Long, and Owen Dahlkamp report for POLITICO.
Trump yesterday signed an executive order renaming AI to “super intelligence.” The executive order said that the term better captures the capabilities of AI, which does more than “imitate or automate discrete aspects of human intelligence.” Ashley Ahn reports for POLITICO.
Trump’s AI-powered website America.gov confirms that he lost the 2020 presidential election to former President Biden, contrary to Trump’s claims that the election was stolen. When asked who won the election, America.gov replies “Joseph R. Biden Jr. won the 2020 U.S. presidential election. According to the National Archives, he received 306 electoral votes to Donald J. Trump’s 232. A majority of 270 was needed.” Ryan Mancini reports for The Hill.
Public interest law group, Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology, yesterday sued OpenAI over its breach of Hugging Face. The suit seeks court-ordered restrictions to prevent future hacks, and argues that “OpenAI is responsible for the conduct of its agents.” Avery Lotz reports for Axios.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Head of Southern Command Gen. Francis Donovan told the Wall Street Journal that he sees land strikes as an option in the Trump administration’s efforts to disrupt drug trafficking networks in Latin America. Donovan said the goal is to put “total systemic friction” on the cartels. Shelby Holliday, Vera Bergengruen, and Lara Seligman report.
The Council of Europe yesterday said the United States formally notified it on Monday that the country would leave the Group of States against Corruption. The State Department confirmed the move saying U.S. participation “does not provide tangible benefits to U.S. national security,” and that the era of “writing blank checks to international bureaucracies is over.” Matthew Lee reports for AP News.
South Africa’s Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday called in U.S. Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III over what it described as “undiplomatic conduct,” a senior government official told Reuters. Sfundo Parakozov and Nilutpal Timsina report.
The Treasury Department yesterday further tightened sanctions on Cuba in updated guidance. Loopholes that previously allowed people from the United States to travel to Cuba for professional meetings and educational activities have been closed, and the sanctions also ban banks from working with Cuba’s private sector. Jim Wyss reports for Bloomberg.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
ICE plans to hire 5,000 new employees by the end of 2026, according to sources. The hiring would expand ICE’s workforce by around 17% and draw on substantial new funding provided by Congress. Most of the recruits are expected to be deportation officers. Alexandra Berzon and Hamed Aleaziz report for the New York Times.
The Venezuelan man shot by ICE this month, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, yesterday was charged with assaulting an ICE officer during the encounter. Garces Perez was charged with one count of assaulting, resisting, interfering, and impeding a federal officer, according to the criminal complaint filed Monday in the Western District of Texas. Garces Perez’s lawyer said the charges were surprising, and that a bullet remains lodged in Garces Perez’s body. Edgar Sandoval and Hamed Aleaziz report for the New York Times.
The White House halted the notice ending Temporary Protected Status for El Salvadorians this month, sources told POLITICO. The program had been set to end three weeks ago if it wasn’t extended, and the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had cleared a termination notice to be published. White House interference took some inside the DHS by surprise. Myah Ward reports.
The Supreme Court will temporarily allow the Trump administration to resume rapidly deporting immigrants to “third countries” while the court considers the legal questions at a later date. Per yesterday’s order, the case is set to be argued in the Supreme Court’s December 2026 session. Avery Lotz reports for Axios.
A Justice Department lawyer yesterday asked a federal appeals court to terminate a judge’s inquiry into whether the Trump administration willfully violated a judicial order directing them to stop deportation flights of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador. Jan Wolfe reports for Reuters.
Court documents unsealed yesterday reveal Michigan nurse Chloe Renae Freeman was charged in August with helping a Mexican national escape ICE custody at the hospital where she worked. FBI Special Agent Michael Wagner said Freeman admitted to allowing the individual to leave the hospital as she did not believe he was in custody at the time because ICE agents were not physically in the room with him. Jasper Ward reports for Reuters.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
A federal judge yesterday threw out a lawsuit led by former college swimmer Riley Gaines against the NCAA that alleged the collegiate sports governing body violated her rights when it allowed transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. The judge ruled that the NCAA is not covered by Title IX, a federal education law which bars sex-based discrimination, because “there is no evidence that the NCAA received federal financial assistance” from the government. B ianca Quilantan reports for POLITICO.
Air Force Maj. James Watson’s lawyer yesterday said Watson had been recommended for a general court-martial. Watson was arrested in July after calling for Trump’s impeachment on the steps of the Capitol in full uniform. An investigating officer who issued a report to the military convening authority also recommended that some charges related to prohibited partisan political activity be dismissed. Anushka Patil reports for the New York Times.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating former House Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) for prediction market trades he made tied to his pardon by Biden, sources told POLITICO. Kalshi has also been reviewing the transactions linked to Kinzinger’s preemptive pardon, for being a part of the House select committee that had investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, after Trump called from them to be jailed. Aiden Reiter reports.
FBI Assistant Director Brett Leatherman yesterday made a public request to members of the hacking group ShinyHunters to get in touch following their hack of the bureau’s job site. Leatherman in a video address said that “you know how to find us, and we know how to find you. I suggest you reach out first while the choice is still yours.” Dutch police yesterday announced they arrested a suspected member of ShinyHunters. Raphael Satter and A.J. Vicens reports for Reuters; Henry Moore reports for BBC News.
Former special counsel Jack Smith yesterday told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he would not be silenced by threats of prosecution. Smith brought two since-dismissed criminal cases against Trump over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents after his first term. Smith accused the Trump administration of “vilification of the agents, prosecutors and staff” who served on his team. Republican lawmakers accused Smith of abusing his authority and using his investigations to obtain information from Republican officials and groups. Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Andrew Goudsward report for Reuters.
A State Department internal watchdog report publicized yesterday and published last week said that the Trump administration’s push to shutter Voice of America hurts its ability to advance U.S. national interests and support democratic values globally by countering disinformation and propaganda with independent journalism. The report also questioned the purported savings that Trump officials touted for nearly closing V.O.A., which provides news to authoritarian countries with limited press freedom such as China and Iran. Minho Kim reports for the New York Times.
Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) yesterday sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin which said it appears that the DHS had dedicated $20 million in funds provided to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to pay for a series of TV advertisements featuring Trump ahead of the midterms. The ads have also drawn bipartisan criticism as a partisan and potentially illegal misuse of taxpayer money. Casey He reports for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTION
A Government Accountability Office review said Trump is not permitted to withhold beyond the end of the fiscal year today more than $800 million in spending approved by Congress. Trump on Friday announced his intention to impound more than $800 million from 11 appropriation accounts, but the GAO said withholding of funds “beyond their date of expiration, regardless of size, subverts both the constitutional process for enacting federal law and Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.” Kevin Freking reports for AP News.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to announce a 20% cut in the number of positions for generals and admirals when he speaks with hundreds of junior service members in Quantico, Virginia, U.S. officials told Reuters yesterday. According to one official, rather than firing people, the rank of some future jobs would change while billets for others would be cancelled. Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart report.
The Transportation Security Administration and a major union yesterday said TSA officers will no longer be able to sit while checking IDs at U.S. airport checkpoints. The American Federation of Government Employees TSA Council 100 said the TSA is removing chairs from checkpoints, and the TSA said the change “reinforces both our security posture and our commitment to hospitality by having these officers on their feet and alert.” David Shepardson reports for Reuters.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge yesterday ruled that the DOJ had unlawfully sought to withhold funding from more than two dozen domestic violence and sexual assault prevention groups to try to extract political concessions. The judge said the chaotic overhaul of the grant programs left organizations hesitant to accept support on such vague terms. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.
A federal appeals court yesterday rejected a request from Trump to immediately lift sanctions imposed in response to a settlement he purportedly reached in a case over the leak of his tax returns. The ruling declined to stay a lower court’s July judgement which concluded that Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS was manufactured to justify a deal to extinguish all outstanding federal tax liability for Trump, his family, and his businesses. Josh Gerstein reports for POLITICO.
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ICYMI: Yesterday on Just Security
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FEATURED IMAGE: WASHINGTON – JANUARY 23: Clouds move as the sun sets against the west front of the United States Capitol building January 23, 2007 in Washington, DC. U.S. President George W. Bush is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union speech before a joint meeting of Congress at 9:00 PM Eastern. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)