July 29, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• A new alert from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, considered the leading international authority on food crises, says Gaza is experiencing a "worst-case scenario of famine" amidst “increasingly stringent blockades” by Israel and predicts "widespread death" in the Palestinian enclave without immediate increases in food aid. [full IPC alert] [more]
• Palestinian health officials say at least 78 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes and gunfire across Gaza yesterday, including 25 who were shot by Israeli forces while trying to take aid supplies from a passing truck convoy. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,251 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Authorities say at least 17 inmates were killed, and 80 others were wounded, overnight when Russian airstrikes hit a prison in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region. [more]
• U.S. President Donald Trump said yesterday that he would shorten his deadline for Russia to show progress toward ending the war in Ukraine or face new consequences, including sanctions on both Russia and buyers of its exports. Trump had previously set a 50-day deadline, but suggested yesterday he would shorten that to 10-12 days. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Four people, including a police officer, were killed yesterday when a man identified as Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, Nevada, entered a New York City office building and shot five people before taking his own life. Police say Tamura had a "documented mental health history" but that the motive behind the shooting remains under investigation. [more]

MORE U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Three people were killed, and three others were wounded, yesterday morning when a yet-unidentified gunman opened fire outside the Grand Sierra Resort casino in Reno, Nevada. The suspect was shot by police and remains hospitalized in critical condition. [more]

U.S. COMMUNITY VIOLENCE PREVENTION | Reuters reports that the Trump administration has terminated more than half of all U.S. Justice Department grant funding for community violence intervention and gun violence prevention programs in the U.S. as part of a broader rollback of the Department's grant-issuing Office of Justice Programs. [more]

U.S. COURTS | The Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint yesterday against U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg for "making improper public comments about President Trump and his administration.” Reports say the complaint stems from remarks Boasberg allegedly made earlier this year to other federal judges saying the administration could trigger a constitutional crisis by disregarding federal court rulings. [more]

U.S. FOOD ASSISTANCE | Citing privacy concerns and the potential for data to be used to aid in mass deportations, a coalition of 20 U.S. states filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to block a Department of Agriculture demand that states turn over personal data on people enrolled in the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. [more]

WYOMING | Patrick Collins, the mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, said yesterday that a massive artificial intelligence data center is being planned for development near his city. Reports note that the data center is expected to use more electricity than every home in Wyoming combined. [more]

AFRICAN HUNGER | A United Nations report released yesterday says that while the percentage of the global population that has faced hunger has fallen over the past three years, food insecurity is rising in many parts of Africa, with the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet surpassing 1 billion — some two-thirds of the continent’s population — in 2024. [full report] [more]

CHINA | Regional authorities say at least 38 people have died in Beijing-area flooding and landslides following four days of storms that dropped nearly a year's worth of rain. [more]

CAMBODIA AND THAILAND | Reports say the cease-fire between Cambodia and Thailand appears to be holding despite ongoing tensions caused by troop movements along the countries' shared border. [more]

HAITI | Amidst ongoing and widespread gang violence in the Caribbean island nation, the government of Haiti said yesterday that it plans to send 400 police officers to Brazil next month for specialized training, after which they will join the Kenyan-led, U.N.-backed mission in its fight against Haitian gangs. [more]

COLOMBIA | Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, who governed from 2002 to 2010, was convicted on charges of witness tampering and bribery yesterday. Uribe is expected to appeal the conviction. [more]

AUTO INDUSTRY | Automaker Stellantis says U.S. tariffs cost the company about $346 million in the first six months of 2025 and forecast a total tariff hit of $1.7 billion for the full year. [more]

RAIL INDUSTRY | U.S. freight rail giant Union Pacific announced plans today to purchase rival Norfolk Southern in an $85 billion deal that would create the U.S.' first coast-to-coast freight rail operator. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1836, the Arc de Triomphe, one of the largest triumphal arches in the world, was officially inaugurated in Paris, France to honor those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. [more history]