October 30, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Palestinian health officials say the death toll from Israel's airstrikes in Gaza this week has risen to at least 104. Israeli military officials say that while the Gaza cease-fire is considered to still be in effect, it will continue to "respond firmly and act decisively" to eliminate perceived threats. [more]
• Palestinian officials say Israel has erected more than 900 barriers and walls in the occupied West Bank since the war with Hamas in Gaza began in October 2023, restricting residents' movements and access to some locations and services. Reports cite Israeli officials as saying the barriers are a reflection of the "complex security reality" in the West Bank and are meant to "manage and monitor" rather than restrict movements. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,344 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• In what Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko called “systematic energy terror," Russia launched more than 650 drones and 50 missiles of various types at targets across Ukraine overnight, largely targeting energy infrastructure ahead of the arrival of colder winter temperatures. [more]

U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS | Citing what he called "other countries' testing programs," President Donald Trump said today that he has ordered the Department of Defense to "immediately" resume testing of U.S. nuclear weapons. Analysts note that no nuclear power other than North Korea has carried out explosive nuclear weapon testing in more than 25 years and that it is unclear if Trump was referring to flight testing of nuclear-capable missiles, which the U.S. military already does regularly. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | The Federal Reserve cuts its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point yesterday to 3.75% to 4% – its lowest level in nearly three years. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, citing the government shutdown’s interruption of economic reports and disagreements among Fed officials who participate in the central bank’s interest-rate deliberations, said a further rate cut in December is not a "foregone conclusion." [more]

U.S. DRUG WAR | Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said yesterday that the U.S. military carried out another strike on a boat believed to have been carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing all four people aboard the vessel. Yesterday's strike brings to 14 the number of such actions since September, and reports note that at least 61 people have been killed in the strikes. [more]

U.S. TARIFFS | A day after passing a similar measure related to Brazil, the Senate voted, 50-46, yesterday to approve a bill that would nullify U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods by terminating the national emergency declared by President Donald Trump to justify the tariffs. Neither measure is expected to be approved by the House. [more]

U.S. AND CHINA | Following today's in-person meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would reduce the total combined tariff rate on Chinese goods from 57% to 47% in exchange for Chinese efforts to reduce fentanyl trafficking. Trump also suggested that China agreed to allow the export of rare earths and resume buying American soybeans, and that a formal trade deal between the two countries could be signed "pretty soon." [more]

U.S. AND SOUTH KOREA | In a social media post today, President Donald Trump said the U.S. will share technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine. [more]

SUDAN | Amidst the African nation's ongoing civil war, United Nations officials and local aid workers say some 460 patients and their companions were killed by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces earlier this week at the Saudi Hospital in Sudan's North Darfur province. [more]

HURRICANE MELISSA | As damage assessments and search and rescue efforts continue, reports say dozens of people were killed in damage caused by Hurricane Melissa across Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica. [more]

RUSSIA | President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russia conducted a successful submarine-based test launch earlier this week of a Poseidon nuclear-powered super torpedo that reports cite analysts as saying is designed to devastate coastal regions by producing radioactive ocean swells. [more]

AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN | A day after Pakistan decried the failure of negotiations, Afghanistan and Pakistan have reportedly agreed to resume peace talks in Istanbul aimed at ending months of border clashes in which dozens of people have been killed. [more]

FRANCE | Authorities in Paris, France, say five more people have been arrested in connection with last week's theft of Crown Jewels from the Louvre Museum, bringing to seven the number of arrests in the case. Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau says at least two suspects have partially admitted their involvement in the theft. [more]

EUROPEAN ECONOMY | E.U. data agency Eurostat reports that the economy in the 20 nations that use the euro currency grew at a higher-than-expected 0.2% rate in the July-September quarter, with growth in France and Spain cited as significant contributors. On an annual basis, the eurozone economy grew 1.3%. [more]

CHINA | While introducing the latest crew of astronauts who will work on the Tiangong space station, officials with the China Manned Space Program said today that China is on track to land astronauts on the moon by 2030. [more]

TANZANIA | The military was deployed, internet services were cut, and a curfew was announced in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam yesterday as opposition-led protests erupted across Tanzania on the day of the east African nation's presidential elections. [more]

NETHERLANDS | Dutch media reports that results from yesterday's general election in the Netherlands shows the far-right Party for Freedom and the centrist D66 tied for being the largest party in the lower house of parliament, with each forecast to win 26 seats. [more]

TECH INDUSTRY | Amidst steadily increasing demand for the company's chips and processors, especially in the AI sector, Nvidia yesterday became the first-ever company to be valued at more than $5 trillion. [more]

MORE TECH INDUSTRY | Google parent company Alphabet yesterday reported a profit of nearly $35 billion for the July-September quarter on revenue of $102.3 billion. [more]

BASEBALL | The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1, last night to take a 3-games-to-2 lead in the best-of-seven World Series. Game 6 is scheduled for tomorrow night in Toronto. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1961, the Soviet Union detonated Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Ocean. It was the largest nuclear weapon ever set off and produced the most powerful human-made explosion ever recorded. [more history]