September 2, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Israel began the process of calling up some 60,000 military reserve personnel today ahead of a planned expansion of ground operations in Gaza. Reports note that the service of an additional 20,000 troops already on active duty is expected to be extended as part of the operational expansion. [more]
• Palestinian health officials say at least 31 people were killed in Israeli gunfire and airstrikes across Gaza yesterday, including 13 who died in Gaza City, where Israel continues its recently expanded military operations. [more]

ILLINOIS | Thousands of demonstrators took part in protests in downtown Chicago yesterday against the Trump administration's planned immigration crackdown in the city and the threat of National Guard deployment. Speaking to protesters, Mayor Brandon Johnson said Chicago is "the city that will defend the country." [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | Court hearings are scheduled for tomorrow morning on the Trump administration's planned deportation of Guatemalan children who entered the U.S. alone and have been living in shelters or with foster care families. Government officials say the deportations, which were blocked on Sunday pending further proceedings, are being carried out to reunite the children with their families back home, while critics say the government is not following laws designed to protect migrant children. [more]

PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM | President Donald Trump said yesterday that he will award former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The announcement came two days after Giuliani, who was disbarred in New York and Washington for repeatedly making false statements about the 2020 election and was criminally charged in Georgia and Arizona in connection with efforts to undo Trump’s election loss to Joe Biden, was injured in a car accident in New Hampshire. [more]

U.S. AND VENEZUELA | As the U.S. buildup of naval forces in the Caribbean Sea continues for what government officials say is an effort to fight drug smuggling by Latin American cartels, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro suggested yesterday that the U.S. buildup is aimed at regime change in his country and said Venezuela is in a state of "maximum preparedness" to respond to any attacks by U.S. forces. [more]

CHINA | In a sign of what analysts suggest is a growing challenge to U.S. global leadership, Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said yesterday that China plans to accelerate the creation of a development bank and to establish an international platform for energy cooperation. [more]

AFGHANISTAN | Authorities say the death toll from Sunday's 6.0-magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan has surpassed 1,400 and that some 3,100 others were injured in the quake. Search and rescue operations are ongoing, particularly in the mountainous Kunar province where the majority of casualties occurred. [more]

RUSSIA AND CHINA | A day after attending a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a series of meetings today in Beijing at which both leaders emphasized the strength of the relationship between their countries. Putin said Moscow’s ties with Beijing are “at an unprecedentedly high level," and reports note that the meetings coincided with announcements of new trade, energy, and travel agreements. [more]

SUDAN | Rebel leaders who largely control Sudan's Central Darfur region say as many as 1,000 people died Sunday in a landslide that destroyed entire villages following days of heavy rainfall. [more]

SYRIA | The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says some 850,000 Syrian refugees have returned to Syria from neighboring countries, and about 1.7 million internally displaced residents have returned home, since the December fall of Bashar Assad's government. [more]

ZAMBIA | Drizit, a South Africa-based environmental cleanup company, says a Chinese-owned mining company has tried to cover up the extent of a major toxic spill in Zambia. Reports cite the environmental company as saying the February spill resulted in the release of 1.5 million tons of toxic and dangerous material — at least 30 times more than Chinese firm Sino-Metals admitted at the time – polluting the Kafue River, on which about half of Zambia’s 21 million people rely for drinking water and crop irrigation. [more]

SERBIA | Reports say tens of thousands of people took part in student-led protests yesterday in Serbia to demand that President Aleksandar Vucic's government call early elections and fully investigate and pursue prosecutions for a canopy collapse at a train station last year in which 16 people were killed. [more]

THAILAND | In the wake of Thailand's Constitutional Court suspension of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the country's ruling Pheu Thai party moved today to dissolve parliament, which could trigger a general election. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II. [more history]