April 28, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Yemen's Houthi rebel group claimed today that an overnight U.S. airstrike hit a migrant detention center in Yemen's Saada region, killing at least 68 people and wounding more than 40 others. U.S. military officials have not commented on the incident. [more]
• Israeli forces yesterday carried out their third airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs in Lebanon since a cease-fire was implemented in late November. Israeli officials say the strike targeted a Hezbollah guided missile storage facility. [more]
• Palestinian health officials said yesterday that at least 51 people had been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza over the previous 24 hours, bringing to 52,243 the number of Palestinians killed in the 18-month-old Israel-Hamas war. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1159 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• North Korea today officially confirmed, for the first time, that it has deployed troops to fight alongside Russian forces against Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region. The confirmation was followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin issuing a statement thanking North Korea for its troops, who he said "defended our Motherland as their own." [more]
• Russian President Vladimir Putin today announced a unilateral three-day cease-fire in the war in Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two. The cease-fire is scheduled for midnight May 8 to midnight May 11. [more]
• In an interview published Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his stance that Crimea will remain under Russian control as part of any peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Reports cite Ukrainian officials as saying they will not accept any formal surrender of the peninsula even though they may be forced to concede the territory to Russia. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Among gun violence incidents in the U.S. over the weekend were:

• Police in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, say 11 people were injured when a gunman opened fire during a disturbance in the popular tourist city. Police shot and killed the suspect, who has been identified as 18-year-old Jerrius Davis. [more]
• One person was killed, and six others were wounded, early Sunday in a shooting on the campus of Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. Reports say no suspect has been identified in the incident. [more]

U.S. HOLIDAYS | In a social media post yesterday, President Donald Trump said that the joint Columbus Day-Indigenous Peoples Day federal holiday in October would revert to being just Columbus Day, reversing a proclamation made by former President Joe Biden in 2021. [more]

FLORIDA | Police in Clearwater, Florida, say one person was killed, and several others were injured, yesterday when a boat crashed into a ferry near the Memorial Causeway Bridge and then fled the scene. The incident remains under investigation. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | Agents of multiple federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reportedly took more than 100 immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally into custody early Sunday following a raid at an illegal after-hours nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Authorities say an undisclosed number of guns were also seized during the raid. [more]

MORE U.S. IMMIGRATION | Reports say President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order today directing the Justice and Homeland Security Departments to identify, within a month, U.S. cities and states that are not complying with federal immigration laws. The move comes just days after a federal judge blocked the withholding of federal funds from multiple so-called sanctuary cities that have declined to cooperate with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. [more]

U.S. PRESS FREEDOM | According to reports, an internal Justice Department memo disseminated Friday says new regulations will allow prosecutors in criminal investigations to use subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants to compel "production of information and testimony by and relating to members of the news media." Reports suggest the new policy makes it easier for prosecutors investigating leaks to the news media to subpoena records and testimony from journalists. [more]

U.S. AND CHINA | In a joint briefing today, senior officials of several Chinese government ministries announced support measures for the Chinese economy amidst the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, including support for companies and the unemployed and easier lending conditions. [more]

CANADA | Canadian voters will choose today between Prime Minister Mark Carney or opposition leader Pierre Poilievre in the country's national elections, in which food and housing prices, immigration, and opposition to the economic and political pressures of U.S. President Donald Trump have emerged as major issues. The election comes just two days after a man drove a car into a crowd of people attending a Vancouver festival, killing 11 people and injuring dozens of others. [more on elections] [more on Vancouver incident]

IRAN | Investigations are continuing today into a massive explosion at one of Iran's main ports Saturday that killed at least 40 people and injured another 1,000. Reports cite analysts as suggesting the explosion may have been linked to the earlier delivery from China of a large shipment of ammonium perchlorate, a chemical used to make missile propellant. [more]

PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN | Pakistani military officials say security forces killed 54 suspected Pakistani Taliban militants who were attempting to cross the border from Afghanistan on Saturday in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. [more]

MYANMAR | A month after Myanmar was struck by a 7.7-magnitude earthquake, state-run media reports that the death toll from the quake has reached 3,769. International aid agencies say safe shelter, clean water and sanitation, and physical and mental health care are among the country's critical needs as recovery efforts continue. [more]

SYRIA | In a joint statement yesterday, the finance ministries of Saudi Arabia and Qatar said their countries will pay Syria's nearly $15-million outstanding debt to the World Bank, clearing the way for the international bank to potentially resume its support of Syria. [more]

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL | The Spanish and Portuguese governments each convened emergency cabinet meetings today after their countries were hit by widespread power outages. Work is ongoing to restore power to affected regions, and authorities say investigations into the cause of the outages are ongoing. [more]

FRANCE | French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin says that 25 suspects were arrested on terrorism charges today in connection with a series of attacks on French prisons earlier this month. [more]

BASEBALL | In an 8-7 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, the Arizona Diamondbacks' Eugenio Suárez became only the 19th player in Major League Baseball history to hit four home runs in a single game. [more]

SOCCER | With a 5-1 win over Tottenham yesterday, Liverpool clinched this year's English Premier League title. [more]

WEEKEND MOVIES | "Sinners" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $45 million in receipts, followed by "Revenge of the Sith" and "The Accountant 2." [more]

FILM AWARDS | Filmmaker and director Francis Ford Coppola, whose decades of award-winning films include "Apocalypse Now," "The Godfather," and "American Graffiti," received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award on Saturday in Los Angeles. [more]

MUSIC AWARDS | The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees for 2025 were announced yesterday, with Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes being inducted in the performer category. Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon are to be inducted as musical influencers, and Thom Bell, Nicky Hopkins, and Carol Kaye will receive the Hall's musical excellence awards. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1881, American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West Henry McCarty, also known as William H. Bonney and then, popularly, Billy the Kid, escaped from prison in Mesilla, New Mexico, where he had been convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He was killed several months later by Sheriff Pat Garrett. [more history]