March 12, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Update from regional conflicts:

• Yemen’s Houthi rebel group warned yesterday that it will, once again, consider any Israeli vessel traveling through nearby waters a military target, citing Israel’s ongoing ban on aid entering Gaza as the reason for the move. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1112 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Following talks in Saudi Arabia yesterday, Ukrainian negotiators agreed to a U.S.-backed plan for a 30-day cease-fire in the war with Russia. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who led the U.S. delegation to the talks, said the plan will be presented later this week to Russia, which has yet to comment on the cease-fire proposal. [more]
• Following Ukraine's agreement to a 30-day cease-fire proposal yesterday, the U.S. said it has lifted its suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv. [more]
• Officials in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih say at least one person was killed, and nine others were wounded, in an overnight Russian missile attack that damaged an infrastructure facility, high-rise apartment buildings, administrative buildings, a shop, and an educational facility. [more]

U.S. BUDGET | The House of Representatives, voting largely along party lines, passed a stop-gap spending bill yesterday to fund federal agencies through September. The fate of the bill in the Senate is uncertain, as at least eight Democrats will be needed to support Republican efforts to pass the measure and prevent a partial government shutdown ahead of a Friday funding deadline. [more]

U.S. EDUCATION | The Department of Education said yesterday that it plans to lay off more than 1,300 agency employees, which along with previous cuts will reduce the department’s staffing to about half what it was when President Trump was inaugurated in January. The cuts come amidst ongoing Trump administration actions aimed at the complete elimination of the department. [more]

U.S. TARIFFS | The Trump administration imposed new 25% tariffs today on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States. The European Union announced retaliatory tariffs on $28 billion worth of U.S. goods to take effect April 1, and Canada is expected to announce its own retaliatory measures later today. The moves come a day after the Canadian province of Ontario suspended plans to impose a 25% surcharge on electricity provided to multiple U.S. states pending related talks later this week. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Labor Department data released this morning shows that year-over-year consumer inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, fell to 2.8% in February – down from 3% in January and lower than the 2.9% predicted by analysts. [full report] [more]

MORE U.S. ECONOMY | Bruce Kasman, the chief global economist at investment bank J.P. Morgan, said yesterday that he sees about a 40% chance of a U.S. recession later this year due to increasing uncertainty over U.S. government policies, increased market instability, and trade tariffs. [more]

U.S. MEASLES | Regional health officials say more than 250 cases of measles have been recorded in the current outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico. Reports note that two people have died in the outbreak, which has largely affected unvaccinated or under-vaccinated communities, and that at least 29 infected people are currently hospitalized. [more]

U.S. WEATHER FORECASTING | The Associated Press cites multiple unnamed sources as saying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to lay off an additional 1,000 employees, or about 10% of the weather prediction and natural disaster agency’s workforce. [more]

U.S. FOREIGN AID | A union for U.S. Agency for International Development contractors asked a federal judge yesterday to block the destruction of classified documents at the agency after remaining staff members were directed to help burn and shred agency records. The American Foreign Service Association union said in a statement that documents being destroyed could be relevant to ongoing lawsuits over USAID’s firings and program terminations. [more]

U.S. AIR SAFETY | As investigations continue into the January 29 collision of a military helicopter and a passenger jet near Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended yesterday that most helicopter flights near the airport be banned. [more]

PAKISTAN | Security officials say hundreds of separatist Baloch Liberation Army militants are holding about 250 people hostage on a train in the Bolan district of Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Pakistani military forces have exchanged gunfire with the militants since the train was seized yesterday, and reports suggest that about 190 of 450 total hostages have been rescued. Militant leaders say they are prepared to free passengers if authorities agree to release jailed militants. [more]

EUROPEAN SECURITY | European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday that military equipment purchased under a new bloc-wide security loan program should be from European companies. Reports note that about two-thirds of European military purchases are currently placed with U.S. companies. [more]

HAITI | The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration extended its ban on flights to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince through September 8 yesterday, citing continuation of rampant gang violence in the city as the reason for the move. The flight ban was first imposed last November and was due to expire today. [more]

COLOMBIA | Newly appointed Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez says Colombia’s military will shift its focus to taking back control of territory lost to rebel groups that have forced an estimated 36,000 people to flee their homes this year. [more]

EGYPT | Following its latest review of Egypt’s economic reform program, the International Monetary Fund yesterday approved a $1.2 billion disbursement to the country as part of a bailout package agreed to in March 2024. [more]

NIGERIA | Public health officials in Nigeria say at least 26 people have died in an outbreak of meningitis in the country’s northwest since January. There have been more than 200 cases recorded in the current outbreak, which is centered in the state of Kebbi. [more]

SPACE | NASA’s newest space telescope was sent into orbit aboard a SpaceX rocket yesterday. Scientists say the $488 million Spherex mission aims to map hundreds of millions of galaxies and their glow levels to help explain how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1930, Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian nationalist movement, began his 24-day, 240-mile Salt March as a non-violent act of civil disobedience to protest against British taxes and rule. The march is considered a key point in the beginning of international recognition of the legitimacy of claims for Indian sovereignty and self-rule, which was achieved in 1947. [more history]