December 10, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Update from regional conflicts:

• U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called yesterday for Yemen's Houthi rebel group to immediately release all staff from the United Nations and other foreign agencies and missions detained by the group and condemned the recent referral of detained U.N personnel to the Houthi's special criminal court. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,383 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• Amidst related pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday that he was prepared to hold elections in his country if the U.S. and other Ukrainian allies could ensure the security of the vote. Reports note that wartime elections are forbidden by Ukrainian law and that the voting status of Ukrainians living in the approximately one-fifth of the country occupied by Russia, as well as those near the front lines, are among the issues complicating any elections. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | One student was killed, and one other was wounded, yesterday in a shooting at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky. Authorities say the suspected shooter, who is in police custody, is not a student at the school and that the incident appears to have been isolated, with no additional related safety concerns on the campus. [more]

U.S. HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION | The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on rival partisan health care plans this week, neither of which are expected to pass. The Republican plan would let current Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies expire at the end of December and replace them with new savings accounts funded with up to $1,500, while the Democratic plan would extend the subsidies for three years. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT | Reports cite Minneapolis, Minnesota, City Council Member Jamal Osman as saying that armed Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents went into East African restaurants in the city's Somali community yesterday, closed the doors, and demanded patrons' IDs, but, finding only U.S. citizens, made no arrests at the time. Reports note that arrests have been made in other ICE actions targeting the region's Somali communities. [more]

U.S. CLIMATE | The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently removed mention of fossil fuels from its popular web page on the causes of climate change, leaving only observations on changes in the Earth's orbit and rotation, variations in solar activity, changes in the Earth's reflectivity, volcanic activity, and changes in naturally occurring carbon dioxide concentrations. The newest version of the page states that "recent climate changes cannot be explained by natural causes alone," while versions as recent as October said that "human activities have released large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which has changed the earth’s climate" and that it is "unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land." [more]

TEXAS | Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday announced a partnership with Turning Point USA, the conservative group founded by late activist Charlie Kirk, to promote the creation of chapters of the group's youth organization in all Texas high schools. Abbott did not say high schools in the state would be required to form chapters of the Club America program, but said he expected "meaningful disciplinary action" against any efforts to block the Turning Point chapters. [more]

U.S. AND MEXICO | Following a threat by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week to increase tariffs on Mexican goods by 5% over treaty-obligated delivery of Rio Grande River water from Mexico to the United States, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, noting that such deliveries are late due to drought and pipeline limitations, said yesterday that her country has proposed a water delivery later this month and another one in the coming years. [more]

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT | Reuters cites unnamed U.S. government sources as saying President Donald Trump has threatened to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court itself, as well as individual members of the Court, if the ICC doesn't amend its founding documents to ensure it does not investigate Trump and other U.S. officials following Trump's term in office. The report says the U.S. has also demanded an end to ICC investigations of Israeli leaders over the war in Gaza and of actions of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. [more]

CAMBODIA AND THAILAND | Reports say that, amidst renewed border fighting between the two countries, about 400,000 people have been evacuated and 700 schools have been closed in Thai border provinces, while more than 127,000 people have been evacuated and hundreds of schools have been closed in Cambodia. [more]

WEST AFRICA | Following recent coups and coup attempts, including those in Benin and Guinea-Bissau, Omar Touray, president of the Economic Community of West African States Commission regional bloc, said yesterday that West Africa is in a state of emergency due to government stability and security issues. [more]

NIGERIA | Amnesty International cites witness accounts as indicating Nigerian soldiers opened fire and killed nine people protesting the army’s handling of communal clashes in the northeastern Adamawa state on Monday. Nigerian Army officials denied the reports and blamed the deaths on a local militia. [more]

E.U. TECH REGULATION | European Union regulators said yesterday that they have opened an antitrust investigation into Google's possible violation of competition rules by using content from web publishers and material uploaded to YouTube for the company's artificial intelligence models and services. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | Amidst growth in the production and use of such materials, South Korea's government has announced plans to require advertisers, starting in 2026, to label ads made with artificial intelligence technologies as part of efforts to reduce deceptive promotions featuring fabricated experts or deep-faked celebrities. [more]

MOROCCO | Local authorities say at least 22 people were killed, and 16 others were injured, in the overnight collapse of two adjacent four-story buildings in the Moroccan city of Fez. The cause of the collapses remains under investigation. [more]

BASEBALL | Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani has been named the 2025 Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the fourth time, tying him with Lance Armstrong, LeBron James, and Tiger Woods for the most such awards among male honorees. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1768, the first part of the first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, the oldest continuously published and revised work in the English language, was published and advertised for sale in Edinburgh, Scotland. [more history]