February 27, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Reports cite Israeli officials as saying the need to prevent weapons smuggling means that Israeli forces will not withdraw from the strategic Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border as specified in the terms of the tenuous cease-fire with Hamas. [more]
• Following today’s completion of hostage and prisoner exchanges planned under the first phase of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement, Hamas officials say the militant group is ready to begin talks on a second phase aimed at achieving a permanent end to the conflict. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1099 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House today, with potential cease-fire plans for Ukraine expected to be the main topic of discussion. Starmer, according to reports, will press Trump to ensure that Kyiv and European leaders are main participants in any peace negotiations with Russia. [more]
• In a cabinet meeting yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his view that Ukraine will not be eligible for NATO membership. [more]

U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT | An Office of Personnel Management document released yesterday instructs federal agencies to prepare plans for large-scale federal workforce reductions and program consolidations. Preliminary agency plans are due by March 13 and implementation has been given a deadline of September 30. [full document] [more]

U.S. FOREIGN AID | Reports cite Trump administration documents as saying that 5,800 of 6,200 multi-year U.S. Agency for International Development contracts, with a total value of about $54 billion, will be cancelled. Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that ordered the administration to unfreeze foreign aid payments. [more]

U.S. VETERANS CARE | Lawmakers and veterans service organizations said yesterday that the Department of Veterans Affairs has temporarily suspended billions of dollars in planned cuts to 875 contracts over concerns that the cuts would be detrimental to critical veterans’ health services. [more]

U.S. UNEMPLOYMENT | According to Labor Department data released today, there were a higher-than-expected 242,000 first-time applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. last week – up 22,000 from the level seen in the prior week. [full report] [more]

U.S. MEASLES | Health authorities in Texas say a school-aged child infected with measles amidst the state’s ongoing outbreak of the disease died Tuesday night – the first U.S. death from the highly contagious disease in 10 years. [more]

U.S. AND E.U. | During the first cabinet meeting of his second term in office yesterday, President Donald Trump said that the European Union “was formed to screw the United States” and threatened 25% tariffs on imported E.U. goods. [more]

SYRIA | Reuters cites a report to be released today by the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre as saying more than 1,000 Syrians detained under the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad died between 2011 and 2017 at a military airport prison on the outskirts of Damascus, killed by execution, torture, or maltreatment. [more]

THAILAND AND CHINA | Reports say it appears that a group of some 40 Uyghur men – members of a majority Muslim ethnicity native to Xinjiang that has faced discrimination and suppression of their cultural identity in China – may have been deported to China early today after being detained in Thailand for more than a decade. [more]

BRAZIL | According to a civil lawsuit filed this week, Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office is suing the giant mining company Vale, the Brazilian government, and the Amazon state of Para over heavy metal contamination in the bodies of Xikrin Indigenous people caused by runoff from the company’s nickel mining operations. [more]

CANADA | Voters in the Canadian province of Ontario will choose a premier today in early elections in which economic and political tensions with the U.S. and healthcare have been among the primary campaign issues. [more]

CRYPTOCURRENCY | The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said yesterday that hackers linked to North Korea were responsible for the recent theft of some $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency ethereum from Dubai-based crypto firm Bybit. [more]

R.I.P. | Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman has died at the age of 95, according to authorities who found Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, dead in their New Mexico home yesterday. Hackman was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for “The French Connection” and “Unforgiven” 21 years apart. [more]

MORE R.I.P. | Actress Michelle Trachtenberg, best known for her childhood role in “Harriet the Spy” and for her roles in the television shows “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl” died this week at the age of 39. Authorities say no foul play was suspected in Trachtenberg’s death, the cause of which remains under investigation. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1933, Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, was gutted by fire. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming communist agitators, used the fire to justify suspending civil liberties. [more history]