November 13, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• A day after top Israeli officials condemned recent arson attacks carried out by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, reports say settlers set a mosque in the Palestinian town of Deir Istiya on fire and left anti-Palestinian graffiti on its walls overnight. [more]
• Reuters cites unnamed former U.S. officials as saying the United States gathered intelligence in 2024 of Israeli officials discussing how their soldiers had sent Palestinian civilians into Gaza tunnels the Israelis believed were potentially lined with explosives to act as human shields. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,358 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Ukrainian military commander Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said yesterday that Russian forces have overrun three settlements in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region and that "grueling battles" are ongoing to repel the Russian advances. [more]
• Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau says a long-term investigation has led to the identification of several businessmen, former government officials, and others involved in an energy sector kickback scheme in which millions of dollars were embezzled. In related activity, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the dismissal of his justice and energy ministers, who later submitted their resignations. [more]

U.S. GOVERNMENT FUNDING | In its first legislative session since September 19, the House voted last night to approve a short-term government spending measure that funds three annual spending bills and extends the rest of government funding through January 30. President Donald Trump signed the measure into law later last night, ending the 43-day government shutdown. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | Reports say hundreds of people detained in recent Chicago-area immigration crackdowns could be released on bond following a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings yesterday that found the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to have been in violation of a 2022 consent decree on so-called warrantless arrests that requires the agency to show documentation for each arrest it makes for people besides those being specifically targeted in an operation. [more]

CALIFORNIA | State officials say California plans to revote the commercial driver's licenses of some 17,000 immigrants after it was discovered that their license expiration dates went beyond when the immigrants were legally allowed to be in the United States. The move follows recent Trump administration criticism of California and other states for what administration officials have said is the granting of licenses to people in the country illegally. [more]

U.S. EPSTEIN INVESTIGATIONS | Reports say House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to hold a vote as early as next week calling for the release of all unclassified Justice Department documents related to investigations into late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. News of the pending vote comes a day after members of the House Oversight Committee released some 23,000 documents related to Epstein, including copies of e-mail communications in which Epstein mentioned President Donald Trump. [more]

U.S. CURRENCY | The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia produced the last U.S. penny yesterday, ending the more-than-230-year production run of the one-cent coin. Treasury Department officials say the cost of producing a penny rose to as high as 3.39 cents in recent years, making continued production of the coin, which remains legal currency, fiscally irresponsible. [more]

CAMBODIA AND THAILAND | Amidst ongoing tensions and apparent collapse of a tenuous cease-fire, Cambodia today evacuated hundreds of people from a village along its border with Thailand after a resident was reported killed in an exchange of gunfire between the two nations' military forces. [more]

IRAN | Reports say a confidential memo circulated recently by the International Atomic Energy Agency says the U.N. nuclear watchdog has not been able to verify the status of Iran's near-weapons-grade uranium stockpiles since the June strikes on Iran's nuclear sites by the U.S. and Israel and that the agency has not been granted access to sites affected by the strikes. [more]

SUDAN | Tom Fletcher, the United Nations' head of humanitarian affairs and relief, said yesterday that two years of civil war in Sudan has left two out of three people in the African country in need of humanitarian aid. [more]

BANGLADESH | The Bangladeshi government ordered heightened security across the country today after ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her former ruling Awami League party called for a nationwide "lockdown" in protest against an anticipated verdict in Hasina's trial related to a crackdown on protests last year that left hundreds of people dead. [more]

PAKISTAN | Under a new constitutional amendment approved by lawmakers yesterday, the head of Pakistan's army, Syed Asim Munir, will become the head of all of the country's armed forces and he, as well as Pakistan's president – the country's symbolic head of state – will be granted lifelong immunity from any legal prosecution. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | Authorities in the Seoul-area city of Bucheon, South Korea, say two people were killed, and at least 18 others were injured, today when a truck drove into pedestrians at an outdoor market in the city. Preliminary reports cite the truck's driver as saying the vehicle malfunctioned, but officials say the incident remains under investigation. [more]

GERMANY | Health officials in Hamburg, Germany, say additional testing and planning for infection control are being performed after the wild form of the polio virus was detected in a sewage sample from the city. Authorities note that no infections have been reported since the virus was detected in October and that the risk to the public is considered to be low because of high vaccination rates. [more]

BASEBALL | The Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skenes and the Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal have been named this year's winners of the Cy Young Award as the top pitchers in Major League Baseball's National and American leagues, respectively. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 2015, Islamic State terrorists staged coordinated attacks in and around Paris, France, with the deadliest occurring at the Bataclan theatre and concert hall. At least 130 people were killed in the attacks, and more than 350 others were wounded. [more history]