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MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants today for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza and the October 2023 Hamas attacks that sparked the ongoing conflict. Reports note that neither Israel nor their main ally, the United States, are members of the court and that Israel, the U.S., and Hamas have all denounced the ICC for issuing the warrants. [more]
• Israeli officials said yesterday that any cease-fire agreement with Hezbollah must include the right for Israel to strike the Lebanese militant group in the event of agreement violations. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1001 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• Amidst growing concern over possible expansion and escalation of the conflict, the U.S. this week approved sending antipersonnel mines to Ukraine for use in slowing the advance of Russian forces and Russia, just last night, is reported to have fired an intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine for the first time in the war. [more]

U.S. ATMOSPHERIC RIVER | Meteorologists have extended storm warnings through Saturday for northern California and the Pacific Northwest, where some areas are expected to receive as much as 16 inches of rain from the atmospheric river weather system affecting the region. [more]

U.S. DEFENSE NOMINATION | According to a police report made public yesterday in response to a public records request, Pete Hegseth, a Fox News personality and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Monterey, California, in 2017 and is reported to have paid her to remain silent about the incident. Hegseth has denied the allegations, saying the incident in question was consensual and noting that no related criminal charges were filed. [more]

GEORGIA | In a case that has become prominent in the U.S. national debate over immigration, Jose Ibarra, who authorities say illegally entered the U.S. from Venezuela in 2022 and was allowed to stay in the country while he pursued his immigration case, was convicted yesterday of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. [more]

GOOGLE | In a court filing yesterday, U.S. Justice Department officials called for a partial breakup of Google over what regulators say has been the company’s abusive monopoly over the past ten years. Among the measures proposed by Justice Department lawyers are the sale of Google’s Chrome web browser and the imposition of restrictions on the Android operating system favoring the Google search engine. [full court filing] [more]

GLOBAL AI OVERSIGHT | Representatives from nine countries and the European Union begin a two-day summit today in San Francisco, California, for the inaugural meeting of the AI Safety Institute International Network, an international cooperation initiative aimed at fostering a common understanding of AI research, testing, and safety. [background report] [press release] [more]

PAKISTAN | Authorities in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province say yet-unidentified gunmen opened fire on two convoys of passenger vehicles in the Kurram tribal district today, killing at least 38 people and wounding 29 others. [more]

LAOS | Reports say at least four tourists, including one each from the U.S. and Australia, are known to have died this month after consuming methanol-tainted mixed drinks in the popular Laotian tourist destination Vang Vieng. [more]

ICELAND | Residents of the town of Grindavík in southwestern Iceland were evacuated last night following a new eruption of the area’s Reykjanes Peninsula volcano – its seventh eruption since December 2023. [more]

NEW ZEALAND | A law banning the display of gang affiliation symbols anywhere outside private homes, including on clothing or in vehicles, went into effect today in New Zealand. Reports say the first arrests for violation of the law took place just minutes after the ban was in place. [more]

AUTO INDUSTRY | Citing global economic factors and weaker-than-expected sales of electric vehicles, Ford Motor Co. announced yesterday that it plans to reduce its workforce by 4,000 in Europe and the U.K. by the end of 2027. [more]

BASEBALL | The Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal and the Atlanta Braves’ Chris Sale have been named the winners of this year’s Cy Young Awards for the American and National leagues, respectively, as Major League Baseball’s best pitchers. [more]

COLLEGE BASKETBALL | With a Connecticut win over Fairleigh Dickinson last night, UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma earned his 1,217th career victory to become the sport’s winningest coach in NCAA history. [more]

MUSIC AWARDS | Morgan Wallen was named entertainer of the year at last night’s Country Music Association Awards, while Chris Stapleton won multiple awards, including song and single of the year for “White Horse” and male vocalist of the year. Lainey Wilson won female vocalist of the year and Old Dominion was named the vocal group of the year.  [full list of nominees and winners] [more]

LITERATURE | At last night’s 75th National Book Awards ceremony in New York City, Percival Everett won the fiction award for his book “James,” which retells the story of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of escaped slave Jim. Jason De León won the non-fiction award for “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling,” and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha won the poetry award for her collection “Something About Living.” [all winners and finalists] [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1920, on “Bloody Sunday” during the Irish War of Independence, the Irish Republican Army killed 14 suspected British intelligence officers in the Dublin area. The British-aligned Black and Tans responded later in the day by raiding a soccer match, killing 14 civilians and wounding 60 others.  [more history]