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MIDDLE EAST WAR | Day 188.

• Following attacks on regional U.S. allies yesterday, Iran targeted Kuwait again early this morning with missiles and drones in what Kuwaiti officials described as "blatant Iranian aggression." [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,650 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Speaking at an ‌economic forum in Russia's far east today, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested there could be a chance of reaching an agreement to end the war in Ukraine. Also today, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told reporters in Kyiv that "we will now have a new dynamic in the peace efforts, with the return of this ⁠active phase of political and diplomatic engagement." The statements come four and half years into the conflict and amidst increased drone and missile attacks by each side on the other. [more]
• Norwegian authorities seized a Russian vessel in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard yesterday as part of efforts to enforce a 2023 arbitration ruling in The Hague that ordered Russia to pay $4.22 billion to Ukrainian state-owned energy company Naftogaz for seizing the company's assets during Russia's 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea. Asked about the action, Russian President Vladimir Putin characterized the seizure as an "act of state terrorism." [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Police in Waynesboro, Virginia, say a 19-year-old gunman forced his way into a local elementary school yesterday and wounded a staff member before killing himself. Authorities did not say whether the gunman, Anthony Ignatiadis-Isabelle of Waynesboro, knew the victim or whether he had any connection to the school. [more]

MORE U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | A shooting incident in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, yesterday left three people dead, including the suspect, and five others wounded, at an apartment building near the Minneapolis Convention Center. Among those wounded were two Minneapolis police officers. Authorities have not released any information about the suspected shooter, but reports cite local residents as suggesting he was a resident of the apartment building. [more]

U.S. BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP | Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman issued a preliminary injunction yesterday blocking President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to limit birthright citizenship by targeting so-called "birth tourism." Boardman said her ruling would remain in force until a related class-action lawsuit brought by immigrant families and advocacy groups is resolved. [more]

TEXAS AND LOUISIANA | As much as 18-20 inches of rain has fallen on portions of eastern Texas and western Louisiana over the past two days as Tropical Storm Edouard, now a tropical depression, moved through the region, causing flooding, service and school cancellations, and power outages. [more]

U.S. FORESTS | A federal judge ordered the U.S. Forest Service this week to suspend a commercial logging project in southern Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest, saying the approval of the project in 2024 under President Joe Biden violated the Endangered Species Act. [more]

U.S. EDUCATION AND AI | The school systems of both New York City and Los Angeles have announced new restrictions on student use of generative AI tools for the upcoming school year. The moves come amidst widespread considerations of how AI is used by students and schools. Among New York's related policies are a one-year ban on all software that uses student-facing generative AI for students through eighth grade and twice-yearly AI literacy classes for all public high school students. [more]

U.S. AND VENEZUELA | Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife asked a federal judge in New York City yesterday to dismiss the United States' drug trafficking indictment against them on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country. The Maduros are scheduled to go on trial on the drug trafficking charges next June. [more]

GLOBAL WARMING | According to a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme yesterday, Earth is soon going to exceed the safe temperature threshold agreed upon by the world in the 2015 Paris climate accord because of warming from the burning of coal, oil, and gas. The report examines the implications of entering an era of overshooting the 1.5°C threshold and calls for urgent action to limit peak warming, respond to changing conditions, and enable pathways for temperatures to decline. [press release] [full report] [more]

GERMANY AND RUSSIA | After Berlin blamed Russia this week for being behind an August attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport and closed selected Russian consulates and cultural centers in Germany, Russia said today it plans to close German cultural centers across the country. [more]

ITALY | Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative government reached its 1,413th day in power yesterday, surpassing the record set by the late Silvio Berlusconi between 2001 and 2005 to become Italy’s longest-serving uninterrupted government since World War II. [more]

NETHERLANDS | DNB, the Dutch central bank, announced yesterday that it has moved billions of dollars' worth of its gold reserves out of Canada and the U.S. to London and back to the Netherlands as a "crisis preparedness" move in times of global political and trade unrest. [more]

CONGO | Updated data from the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ministry of Health indicates that 6,186 confirmed cases and 3,007 deaths have been recorded since May in the country's ongoing Ebola outbreak. [more]

TECH INDUSTRY | A U.S. federal judge, while stopping short of a government-pursued breakup of the company, ordered tech and online giant Google yesterday to reorganize the systems powering its digital advertising business, which was found in 2024 to be an illegal monopoly. The judge’s full opinion, which includes the specific remedies, will remain under seal for 14 days to allow the parties to review it and propose any necessary redactions. [more]

AI INDUSTRY | Chipmaking giant Nvidia announced today that it will buy popular AI developer platform Hugging Face for $12.93 billion. [more]

BASKETBALL | Following a nearly year-long investigation, the NBA imposed various punishments on the Los Angeles Clippers franchise yesterday for what the league said were violations of salary cap circumvention rules. Among the punishments imposed were: suspending owner Steve Ballmer for one year, fining the team $30 million, and forcing the Clippers to forfeit five first-round draft picks. [more]

R.I.P. | American journalist and political activist Gloria Steinem, best known as the face of second-wave feminism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, died yesterday at the age of 92. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1783, representatives of the United States of America and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the American Revolutionary War and recognizing U.S. sovereignty. [more history]