July 23, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• The U.N. human rights office said yesterday that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to get food aid in Gaza since May, with most of the deaths taking place near aid distribution sites operated by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The foundation characterized the U.N. claim as "false and exaggerated statistics" and the Israeli military says its forces have only fired warning shots near aid sites. [more]
• In a joint statement released today, more than 100 international aid and rights organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, and Oxfam, warn of record rates of acute malnutrition in Gaza and say that mass starvation is spreading across the Palestinian enclave amidst ongoing Israeli military action and the insufficient flow of aid. [full joint statement] [more]

U.S. PROTESTS AND EDUCATION | Columbia University, amidst funding and contract pressures from the Trump administration, announced disciplinary action yesterday against students who took part in pro-Palestinian demonstration inside the school's main library in May and at an on-campus encampment last year. The penalties imposed on nearly 80 students include probations, suspensions, expulsions, and degree revocations. [more]

U.S. TRADE AND TARIFFS | U.S. President Donald Trump announced trade and tariff deals with multiple Asian countries yesterday. Under the agreements, U.S. imports from Japan will see a 15% tariff, while those from the Philippines and Indonesia will face a 19% tariff. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Amidst bipartisan calls for a vote on legislation seeking the release of information related to investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced yesterday that the House would start its traditional month-long August recess early. [more]

MASSACHUSETTS | More than 120 criminal court cases were dismissed by Boston Municipal Court Chief Justice Tracy-Lee Lyons yesterday amidst an ongoing dispute over pay that has prompted public defenders to stop taking new cases. Lyons dismissed the cases under the so-called Lavallee protocol, which requires cases be dropped if a defendant has not had an attorney for 45 days. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Prosecutors in Los Angeles, California, say Fernando Ramirez, 29, has been charged with 37 counts of attempted murder for the early Saturday morning incident in which he is alleged to have purposefully driven his car into a crowd outside a nightclub, injuring dozens of people. [more]

NEW JERSEY | The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday struck down a 2021 New Jersey law that banned operators from contracting with the federal government to run immigration detention centers in the state. In the ruling, U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas said that states "cannot regulate private parties in a way that severely undercuts a federal function." [more]

GLOBAL CLIMATE | The U.N.'s International Court of Justice is expected to issue an advisory opinion today on 1) what are countries obliged to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions?, and 2) what are the legal consequences for governments when their acts, or lack of action, have significantly harmed the climate and environment? The court's findings will be non-binding, but are expected to be seen as key legal benchmarks for international obligations and litigation related to climate change. [more]

GLOBAL CONTRACEPTION | Reuters cites unnamed sources as saying that U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated, after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organizations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations. [more]

EUROPEAN UNION | As trade and tariff talks between European Union and U.S. negotiators continue, reports say the European Commission is preparing a final package of potential tariff countermeasures for use if a deal is not reached with the U.S. to avert President Donald Trump's threatened 30% tariffs on E.U. goods. [more]

VIETNAM | Vietnamese authorities say at least one person was killed, and one other remains missing, in damage caused by Tropical Storm Wipha, which made landfall in northern Vietnam yesterday and has since weakened to a tropical depression. Reports say hundreds of homes were damaged and crops in numerous areas were destroyed in storm-related flooding. [more]

UKRAINE | In the first major anti-government rallies in more than three years of war, thousands of Ukrainians gathered yesterday across Ukraine to protest new legislation that tightens oversight of two government anti-corruption agencies and that critics say weakens the agencies' independence. Reports note that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the measure into law late on Tuesday. [more]

MALAYSIA | Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced new measures today, including one-time cash payments to all adults and future fuel subsidies, as part of efforts to address growing public unrest about the rising cost of living in Malaysia. [more]

SOCCER | England beat Italy, 2-1, yesterday to advance to the final of the 2025 Women's Euro tournament in which they will play the winner of today's match between Spain and Germany. [more]

R.I.P. | Heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne, the once-lead singer of Black Sabbath who went on to solo artist and reality television success, died yesterday at the age of 76. Osbourne's death came just weeks after his farewell show in his hometown of Birmingham, England. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1952, the Free Officers, a nationalistic military group led by Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, engineered a coup that overthrew King Farouk I of Egypt, ending the monarchy and bringing Nasser to power. [more history]