March 6, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Update from regional conflicts:

• In what reports call unprecedented direct talks this week, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump spoke directly with Hamas militants about Gaza and the cease-fire with Israel. Following the talks, Trump issued what he said was a “last warning” to Hamas to release all Israeli hostages – a demand Hamas leaders rejected, saying further return of hostages could only take place in exchange for a lasting cease-fire. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1106 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Amidst the Trump administration’s withdrawal of U.S. support for Ukraine, including pauses in both military and intelligence aid, European Union leaders are holding an emergency summit in Brussels today to discuss ways to increase their military budgets to strengthen continent-wide security and provide increased assistance to Ukraine. [more]
• Reuters cites unnamed government sources as saying that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is planning to revoke temporary legal resident status for some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the United States amidst the Russian invasion of their country. [more]

U.S. TARIFFS | President Donald Trump said yesterday that, after speaking with executives at U.S. automakers Ford Motors, GM, and Stellantis, he would exempt automobiles coming into the U.S. from newly imposed tariffs for one month. The reversal followed two days of significant stock market losses and after Trump said in a speech to Congress that U.S. automakers were "excited" about their prospects amidst tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods. [more]

U.S. VETERANS AFFAIRS | An internal Department of Veterans Affairs memo says the agency plans to move by August to reduce its workforce to its pre-2020 level of 399,957 employees, which would represent the cutting of about 80,000 jobs. VA Secretary Doug Collins says the layoffs would not mean cuts to veterans’ health care or benefits, while opponents say the cuts could harm veterans through detrimental effects on care and note that about 25% of VA employees are veterans themselves. [VA memo] [more]

U.S. PUBLIC HEALTH | The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has taken action to re-hire some 180 employees fired two weeks ago as part of government efficiency and workforce reduction efforts. An estimated 550 CDC employees remain fired under the DOGE cuts. [more]

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE | The Senate voted, 52-46, yesterday to confirm the appointment of Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, to be the Deputy U.S. Attorney General – the second highest position at the Justice Department. [more]

UTAH | Lawmakers in Utah voted yesterday to make their state the first in the U.S. to pass legislation requiring app stores, such as those from Apple and Google, to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for minors to download apps. Governor Spencer Cox has not explicitly said if he will sign the measure into law, but reports note that he supported an earlier state law, currently blocked by a court ruling, that requires age verification by social media platforms. [more]

U.S. FOREIGN AID | With a 5-4 ruling yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Trump administration bid to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid and ordered a lower court judge to clarify his earlier ruling requiring the release of funds for U.S. foreign aid work that has already been completed. [more]

U.S. AND CHINA | The U.S. Justice Department announced yesterday that it has filed criminal charges against 12 Chinese nationals in connection with alleged Chinese government-backed cybercrime campaigns targeting dissidents, news organizations, and U.S. agencies and universities. [press release] [more]

GLOBAL WOMEN’S RIGHTS | In a new report marking 30 years since the Beijing Declaration on women’s rights and ahead of Saturday’s International Women’s Day, the United Nations agency focused on women’s rights and gender equality says nearly one-quarter of governments worldwide reported a backlash to women’s rights last year. The report notes that, globally, a woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by a partner or family member and that cases of conflict-related sexual violence have increased by 50% since 2022, but does note progress on girls’ education and access to family planning worldwide. [press release] [full report] [more]

FRANCE | French President Emmanuel Macron, amidst wavering support for European security by the U.S., said in a speech yesterday that his country is open to discussing extending the protection of its nuclear arsenal to European allies. [more]

ARGENTINA | Amidst an ongoing heat wave, more than 620,000 homes and businesses in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires lost power yesterday in a second collapse of the city’s power grid in 24 hours. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | Authorities say two South Korean fighter jets accidentally dropped multiple bombs on a civilian area of the city of Pocheon today during a joint live-fire exercise with the U.S. military, injuring at least 15 people. Military officials suspended all live-fire drills across South Korea pending an investigation into the incident. [more]

HONG KONG | Hong Kong’s top court today overturned the 2023 convictions of three former organizers of an annual vigil in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protests. In its ruling, the court said prosecutors had failed to prove that Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan, and Tsui Hon-kwong were acting as foreign agents in organizing the vigils. [more]

DENMARK | PostNord, Denmark's state-run postal service, has announced that it will end the delivery of letters at the end of 2025, citing a 90% decline in letter volumes since the start of the century and the rise of digital mail services. Reports note that Denmark has had a universal postal service for nearly 400 years and that physical mail delivery will still be available in Denmark through private firms. [more]

COMPUTER SCIENCE | The Association for Computing Machinery has named Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton the recipients of the annual A.M. Turing Award – sometimes referred to as the "Nobel Prize in Computing” – for their work on reinforcement learning that served as an early foundation for artificial intelligence. [press release] [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell as Mexican forces led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna stormed the fortress after a 13-day siege. The battle claimed the lives of all the Texan defenders, including William Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett. [more history]