July 8, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Officials say five Israeli soldiers were killed, and 14 others were wounded, last night in an explosion and gunfight during an operation against Hamas militants in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza. [more]
• European Union security officials and Yemen's exiled government say Yemen-based Houthi rebels are responsible for an ongoing attack on a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea today. The new attack comes after the group claimed to have sunk another vessel, the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas, on Sunday. [more]
• In an update yesterday, Iran's government said that 1,060 Iranians were killed in the recent 12-day war with Israel. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,230 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• President Donald Trump said yesterday that the U.S. must send more weapons to Ukraine, suggesting a reversal of a Pentagon statement last week that said delivery of air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery, and other weapons to Ukraine would be suspended due to concerns over low stockpiles. [more]
• Kyiv asked the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons today to investigate alleged use of banned toxic munitions by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. The request follows recent Dutch and German intelligence agency reports that said there was evidence of widespread use of illegal weapons by Russia along the frontline. [more]

TEXAS | Search and rescue efforts in central Texas continue today as authorities say the death toll from catastrophic flooding over the July Fourth weekend has surpassed 100. Officials say addressing questions about weather warnings and why some areas did not evacuate will have to wait while the rescue and recovery efforts continue. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Federal officers and National Guard troops briefly occupied a Los Angeles park in a largely immigrant neighborhood yesterday, fanning out on foot, horseback, and in military vehicles before abruptly leaving the area. Department of Homeland Security officials have not said if any immigration-related arrests were made during the operation. [more]

U.S. TARIFFS | Ahead of a previously announced July 9 deadline set by President Donald Trump for new international trade deals with the U.S., Trump announced new tariff levels on yesterday on more than a dozen countries, including major trade partners Japan and South Korea, but said the new rates would not go into effect until August 1. [more]

U.S. VACCINATIONS | A coalition of medical organizations, including the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, filed a federal lawsuit against the government yesterday, claiming that the recent removal of COVID-19 vaccination from the CDC's recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women creates a confusing healthcare environment and disregards established federal procedures for review and recommendation processes. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | In a Federal Register notice yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security said it is ending the 25-year-old temporary protected immigration status of some 80,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans currently in the United States, and that work- and residence-related protections for those affected will be terminated in 60 days. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | In a court filing yesterday, the Internal Revenue Service said a decades-old ban on political campaigning by tax-exempt groups should not apply to houses of worship speaking to their own members – effectively calling for a formal religious organization exemption to the 1954 Johnson Amendment to the U.S. tax code that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates. [more]

NEPAL AND CHINA | Authorities in Nepal say at least 18 people are missing after the flooded Bhotekoshi River destroyed the main bridge connecting Nepal and China earlier today. [more]

AFGHANISTAN | The U.N. General Assembly voted yesterday to adopt a non-legally-binding resolution calling on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to reverse their worsening oppression of women and girls and eliminate all terrorist organizations. 116 nations voted in favor of the resolution, while two – the U.S. and Israel – were opposed and 12 countries, including Russia, China, India, and Iran abstained from voting. [more]

GLOBAL HEALTH | Pharmaceutical company Novartis has received approval in Switzerland for Coartem Baby – the first drug for the treatment of malaria in babies and small children. The drug is expected to receive quick approval in eight African nations that participated in trials of the treatment, and the company notes that the treatment will be distributed on a largely not-for-profit basis. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1776, John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, outside the State House – now Independence Hall – in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [more history]