August 27, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Update from regional conflicts:

• Israeli military officials say the double strike on the Nassar hospital in southern Gaza this week in which 20 people were killed targeted what was believed to be a Hamas surveillance camera. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,280 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• Ukrainian officials say large-scale overnight Russian drone attacks on energy and gas transport infrastructure across six regions of Ukraine have left more than 100,000 people without power and caused significant damage to infrastructure in the Poltava and Sumy regions. [more]

U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY DATA | According to a whistleblower report submitted to House and Senate oversight lawmakers, the Social Security data of more than 300 million Americans, including health diagnoses, income, banking information, familial relationships, and personal biographic data, was uploaded to a cloud account not subject to oversight and data protection protocols by Department of Government Efficiency staff members. The report was submitted by Charles Borges, who has worked as the chief data officer at the Social Security Administration since January. [more]

U.S. JUDICIARY | Calling the Trump administration's criticism and legal action against judges who rule against its policies "potentially calamitous," U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen yesterday threw out the administration's lawsuit against Maryland's entire federal bench over immigration-related rulings. The Trump administration has filed a notice that it intends to appeal Cullen's decision. [more]

U.S. CLIMATE | According to an Associated Press survey of dozens of scientists, a Trump administration proposal to reverse a landmark finding that climate change is dangerous to the public relies heavily on a report from the Department of Energy that is flawed and ignores critical information. [more]

U.S. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT | Some of the 180 current and former employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who signed a public letter of dissent against Trump administration policies for the agency earlier this week have been placed on administrative leave, with pay, according to reports. [more]

TEXAS | The NAACP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed a lawsuit in Texas yesterday seeking to block the state's congressional district map recently re-drawn by Republican legislators to favor the party in the 2026 midterm elections. [more]

U.S. ELECTIONS | Heather Honey, a Pennsylvania activist and conservative election researcher whose faulty findings on voter data were cited by President Donald Trump as part of attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss, has been appointed to an election integrity role at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. [more]

NEVADA | The office of Gov. Joe Lombardo says a cyberattack caused Nevada’s state offices to close for two days this week and rendered some state websites and phone lines unavailable. [more]

U.S. AND INDIA | New U.S. tariffs of up to 50% on goods imported from India went into effect today. Indian officials estimate the tariffs will impact some $48.2 billion worth of exports and warn that the new duties could make shipments to the U.S. commercially unviable. [more]

U.S. AND DENMARK | Denmark's foreign ministry has summoned the top U.S. diplomat in the country for talks following Danish media reports that at least three people with connections to President Donald Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland. The reports come amidst the Trump administration's continued insistence that Greenland – a semi-autonomous Danish territory – should become part of the United States. [more]

INDIA | Reports cite local officials as saying at least 32 people have died, and dozens remain missing, in flash floods and landslides following intense rains in Indian-controlled Kashmir’s Jammu region. [more]

IRAN | Iranian state media reports that 13 militants were killed in three separate operations by police and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard today in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan. [more]

COLOMBIA | Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said yesterday that 34 Colombian soldiers fighting rebel groups in the southern part of the country have been kidnapped by villagers acting under the orders of the largely disbanded FARC rebel militia. [more]

SOUTHEAST ASIA | Authorities say flooding and landslides in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Kajiki has been linked to at least seven deaths in Vietnam and one death in Thailand. [more]

VENEZUELA | Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced yesterday that Venezuela will deploy military vessels to patrol the Gulf of Venezuela and the country’s “territorial waters” in the Caribbean as part of efforts to combat drug trafficking. The move comes more than a week after the U.S. said it would deploy guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela as part of anti-drug operations. [more]

MICROSOFT | Seven people were arrested yesterday after occupying the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith as part of continued protests over Israel's alleged use of the company's Azure cloud computing platform to facilitate attacks on Palestinian targets in Gaza. Reports note that at least two of those arrested are Microsoft employees and that the company says an internal review found no evidence that its platforms are used by Israel to target or harm people in Gaza. [more]

AI | Amidst the race between the U.S. and China to develop the most advanced artificial intelligences, the Financial Times cites Chinese industry sources as saying China’s chipmakers are seeking to triple the country’s total output of AI processors by next year, with one fabrication plant scheduled to start production as soon as the end of this year. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1883, Indonesia's Krakatoa volcano erupted. More than 36,000 deaths were attributed to the eruption and resulting tsunamis, which also destroyed an estimated 70% of Krakatoa island. [more history]