Latest Issue

May 23, 2025

EDITORIAL NOTE: | MIDDLE EAST | UKRAINE | U.S. EDUCATION | MORE U.S. EDUCATION | U.S. HEALTH | U.S. TARIFFS | CALIFORNIA | U.S. EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY | U.S. AND SOUTH AFRICA | U.S. AND IRAN | U.S. AND JAPAN | EUROPEAN MIGRATION | GERMANY | TURKEY | PERU | PANAMA | TODAY IN HISTORY

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EDITORIAL NOTE: No edition of the Daily Brief will be published on Monday, May 26, as we participate in our annual recognition of Memorial Day here in the United States. We look forward to resuming service on Tuesday, May 27.
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MIDDLE EAST | Update from regional conflicts:

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today accused the leaders of the U.K., France, and Canada of "emboldening" Hamas after the three countries condemned Israel's newly expanded offensive in Gaza as "disproportionate" and described the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave as "intolerable" earlier this week. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1184 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

  • According to a new report from the U.S. National Security Agency, hackers working for Russian military intelligence have targeted Western technology and logistics companies as part of efforts to try to obtain details about the types of assistance being sent to Ukraine. A major portion of the hacking effort centered on accessing the feeds of internet-connected cameras near Ukrainian border crossings, as well as in Poland, Romania, and other European countries. [full NSA report] [more]
  • A week after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Russia-Ukraine ceasefire negotiations would begin immediately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted today that "there is no concrete agreement" on plans for such negotiations. [more]

U.S. EDUCATION | In a continuation of the Trump administration's clashes with the Ivy League school over its policies, the Department of Homeland Security yesterday revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students and said thousands of current foreign students must transfer to other schools. DHS claims Harvard has created an unsafe campus environment by allowing “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to assault Jewish students on campus and accuses the school of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party. Harvard officials filed a lawsuit seeking to block the government action today, saying the revocation had an "immediate and devastating effect" on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders and calling it a "blatant violation" of the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws. In potentially related action, a federal judge in California yesterday issued a nationwide injunction barring immigration authorities from terminating the legal status of international students while a court case challenging previous terminations is pending. [more]

MORE U.S. EDUCATION | U.S. District Judge Myong Joun yesterday blocked President Donald Trump's executive order to dismantle the Department of Education while related court proceedings play out and ordered the Department to reinstate employees fired in mass layoffs. The Trump administration appealed Joun's ruling just hours after it was issued. [more]

U.S. HEALTH | The “Make America Healthy Again” report released by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. yesterday calls for reviews of the childhood vaccine schedule and of the pesticides sprayed on American crops, and describes the country's children as overmedicated and undernourished. The 69-page report contains findings and recommendations that are expected to be used to develop an action plan for implementation during President Trump's term in office. [full report] [more]

U.S. TARIFFS | President Donald Trump threatened today to impose a 25% tariff on Apple for any iPhones sold, but not manufactured, in the United States and, separately, suggested the possibility of a 50% tariff on goods from the entire European Union starting June 1. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Six people aboard a private jet are believed to have been killed yesterday when their aircraft hit a power line and crashed into a neighborhood in San Diego, California. At least 11 homes were damaged in the incident, and at least eight people on the ground were injured. [more]

U.S. EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY | The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that President Donald Trump likely has the authority to fire board members of independent agencies without cause, effectively refusing to reinstate Gwynne Wilcox to the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris to the Merit Systems Protection Board. [more]

U.S. AND SOUTH AFRICA | Reuters reports that an image U.S. President Donald Trump presented this week as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans was actually a still pulled from a Reuters video that showed humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Democratic Republic of Congo following government battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. [more]

U.S. AND IRAN | Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and State Department policy planning director Michael Anton are expected to represent the U.S. at today's Oman-mediated nuclear-related talks with Iran in Rome, Italy. [more]

U.S. AND JAPAN | Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said today that Japan will continue to urge the U.S. to drop all recent tariff measures on its goods and push for Japanese investment to create more jobs in the U.S. in exchange. [more]

EUROPEAN MIGRATION | The leaders of nine European Union countries – Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland – requested in a letter yesterday that the European Court of Human Rights reevaluate its decisions on migration that the countries say have limited the flexibility of national governments and prevented them from expelling migrants who commit crimes. [more]

GERMANY | The German economy grew at an unexpectedly high rate of 0.4% in the first quarter of 2025 – double the growth that had been initially estimated – on stronger-than-expected exports and manufacturing, according to the country's Federal Statistical Office. [more]

TURKEY | Reports say prosecutors in Turkey issued arrest warrants for 63 active-duty military personnel today, accusing the service members of being linked to the Fethullahist Terror Organization group accused of a 2016 coup attempt. [more]

PERU | A newly published civil court ruling has recognized the territorial rights of Peru's Kichwa Indigenous people within a protected area of the Amazon from which they had been barred for decades. Lawyers for the Kichwa people say the ruling affirms that Indigenous stewardship is fully compatible with conservation goals, setting a powerful precedent for rights-based forest protection. [more]

PANAMA | Banana giant Chiquita Brands has reportedly fired some 5,000 Panamanian workers who have been on strike for more than three weeks as part of nationwide protests against reforms to the social security system. The company says it suffered losses of at least $75 million as a result of the strikes. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1951, China formally annexed Tibet as an autonomous region, giving rise to a Tibetan independence movement led by the Dalai Lama.  [more history]

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