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MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Egyptian and Qatari mediators say they are still awaiting a response from Israel on a 60-day Gaza cease-fire proposal agreed to by Hamas earlier this week. [more]
• Israel formally approved plans yesterday for the controversial E1 settlements outside Jerusalem, the establishment of which, according to analysts, would cut the West Bank in half and make the formation of a viable and contiguous Palestinian state virtually impossible. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,274 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• Ukrainian officials say Russia launched one of its largest aerial attacks of the year overnight, firing 574 drones and 40 ballistic and cruise missiles at targets mainly in western Ukraine. At least one person was killed, and 15 others were injured, in the attack. [more]
• Reports cite Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying today that Moscow will only agree to security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any peace deal if it is given a veto over any activation of those guarantees – a stance that analysts say would make them worthless. [more]

U.S. ELECTIONS | As California Democratic legislators prepare countermeasures, the Texas House approved re-drawn congressional maps supported by President Donald Trump yesterday that create five additional Republican-leaning districts in the state. The new Texas maps must be approved by the GOP-controlled state Senate and signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott before they become official. [more]

U.S. INTELLIGENCE | Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said yesterday that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence – responsible for coordinating the work of 18 U.S. intelligence agencies – has become bloated and inefficient and announced that staffing and the Office's budget will be cut by 40% and $700 million, respectively. [more]

VIRGINIA | The U.S. Department of Education said yesterday that it has designated multiple Virginia school systems as having "high-risk status" for violating federal civil rights laws by accommodating students based on their gender identity, rather than their sex assigned at birth – a move that the Department says allows it to attach specific conditions for releasing funding to the school systems. [more]

U.S. GOVERNMENT INVESTMENTS | Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed yesterday that the Trump administration is pursuing plans to purchase a 10% stake in Silicon Valley pioneer chipmaker Intel. Reports note that the purchase would be made by converting federal government grants previously pledged under the Biden-era CHIPS and Science Act into ownership of Intel stock. [more]

HURRICANE ERIN | The National Hurricane Center says tropical storm conditions are expected along the coasts of North Carolina and Virginia as Hurricane Erin moves closer to the mainland United States. Officials say the storm is likely to cause dangerously high waves and rip currents from Florida to New England this week before turning further out to sea. [more]

WASHINGTON | At least 18 people were arrested for trespassing and other charges at employee-led protests yesterday at the headquarters of tech-giant Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. Reports say the protests were a continuation of employee unrest sparked by alleged use of Microsoft technology by the Israeli military in the ongoing war in Gaza. [more]

EPSTEIN INVESTIGATION | Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman yesterday rejected the Trump administration’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking case, joining two other judges who declined to release similar records from investigations into the late financier’s sexual abuse of young women and girls. [more]

U.S. AND UGANDA | In a statement today, the Ugandan foreign affairs ministry said Uganda has agreed to a deal to take in immigrants deported from the U.S. on condition that the deportees do not have criminal records and are not unaccompanied minors. [more]

IRAN | Iranian state media reports that the Iranian military held large-scale naval exercises today – its first live-fire drills since the end of the country's recent 12-day war with Israel. [more]

NORD STREAM ATTACKS | A yet-unidentified Ukrainian man was arrested overnight in Italy in connection with the September 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream I and II gas pipelines that carry gas from Russia to Europe, according to German prosecutors pursuing the case. The pipeline sabotage, for which Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. all denied responsibility, was seen as a major escalation in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. [more]

RUSSIA | Russian state news agency RIA cites Alexei Likhachev, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation, as saying today that Russia's nuclear shield capabilities must be upgraded due to the "colossal threats" faced by Moscow. [more]

TAIWAN | Amidst ongoing threats from China, which claims the island territory as its own, Taiwan announced plans today to increase its defense spending by more than 20% next year to about $31.27 billion. [more]

NEW ZEALAND | As part of plans to double defense spending over the next 10 years and citing growing global tensions and a deteriorating security environment, New Zealand Cabinet ministers announced plans yesterday to spend some $1.6 billion on new military aircraft, including the purchase of five MH-60R Seahawk helicopters from the United States. [more]

AMAZON RAINFOREST | Indigenous leaders seeking to promote Indigenous interests and protection of the Amazon rainforest are hoping to meet this week with leaders of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, who are taking part in the Fifth Presidential Summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization in Bogota, Colombia. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1941, representatives of the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union opened the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, or, more formally, the Washington Conversations on International Peace and Security Organization, to discuss the establishment of a "general international organization" that would later become the United Nations. [more history]