September 30, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Following talks at the White House yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed a new peace plan framework for Gaza that is reportedly being reviewed by Hamas. The plan calls for the Palestinian militant group to disarm in exchange for an end to fighting, humanitarian aid for Palestinians, and the promise of reconstruction in Gaza, and proposes that Gaza be put under international control, with an international security force and a “Board of Peace” headed by Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to oversee the territory's administration and reconstruction. [more]
• A missile attack on a Dutch-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden yesterday sparked a fire and forced the crew to abandon the damaged vessel. The attack is believed to have been carried out by Yemen's Houthi rebels, but the militant group has not claimed responsibility. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,314 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that any U.S. provision of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, as has been requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, would signal a serious escalation of the war in Ukraine. [more]

U.S. GOVERNMENT FUNDING | Congress faces a midnight deadline to pass a spending measure or face the first U.S. government shutdown in almost seven years. A meeting between President Trump and congressional leaders yesterday failed to break an impasse, with Republicans continuing to insist on extending federal spending at current levels and Democrats holding out for an extension of health care benefits that are set to expire. [more]

U.S. MILITARY | President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are scheduled to address an in-person gathering of top U.S. military leadership gathered from around the world today at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia. Reports cite military analysts and policy experts as noting that such a large-scale, in-person summit is unusual and that the reasoning behind, and purpose of, the gathering remains unclear. Early reports from the summit cite Hegseth as telling the gathering that the U.S. military has suffered from "decades of decay" caused by policies promoting diversity and inclusion. [more]

VOICE OF AMERICA | Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth agreed to a request yesterday to suspend Trump administration plans to eliminate hundreds of jobs at the agency that oversees Voice of America and similar operations. [more]

U.S. SOCIAL MEDIA | According to court documents filed yesterday, Google's YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump after the video site suspended his account following the January 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol. Reports note that $22 million of the settlement funds are earmarked for Trump to contribute to the Trust for the National Mall and the construction of a White House ballroom. [more]

U.S. MILITARIZATION | Amidst President Donald Trump's calls for expanding the presence of federal immigration agents and National Guard troops into American cities, political leaders in Chicago, Illinois, Portland, Oregon, and Memphis, Tennessee, have warned of potential federal law enforcement and military surges in their cities. [more]

LOUISIANA | in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has requested that National Guard troops be deployed to New Orleans and other cities to assist in fighting crime and help make up for shortages in local law enforcement. [more]

U.S. COAL | In moves criticized by environmental groups, the U.S. Energy and Interior departments and the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday that they will open 13 million acres of federal lands for coal mining and provide $625 million in funding to recommission or modernize coal-fired power plants. The moves follow April executive orders from President Donald Trump to revive the U.S. domestic coal industry. [more]

STORM IMELDA | Tropical storm Imelda is expected to strengthen to hurricane status today as it heads northward and eastward after dropping heavy rain on the northern Caribbean region, including on Cuba, where two deaths have been linked to the storm. [more]

IRAN | U.N. human rights experts have warned of a "dramatic escalation" in the number of executions carried out by Iran this year, saying more than 1,000 people were killed in the first nine months of 2025. Watchdog group Iran Human Rights says 50% of those executed in Iran this year were accused of drug-related charges; 43% of murder; 3% of the security-related charges of "armed rebellion against the state", "corruption on Earth" and "enmity against God"; 3% for rape, and 1% for spying. [U.N. press release] [Iran Human Rights report] [more]

INDONESIA | At least three students were killed, more than 100 were injured, and dozens remain missing and presumed buried in rubble, following the collapse yesterday of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia's East Java town of Sidoarjo. Authorities say the collapse may be linked to an unauthorized expansion of the school building and that both rescue efforts and investigations into the incident continue today. [more]

PAKISTAN | Government officials say the Awami Action Committee civil rights alliance is suspected of responsibility for gunfire that broke out during a peace rally in Pakistan-administered Kashmir yesterday in which at least one person was killed and more than two dozen others were wounded. [more]

AFGHANISTAN | Reports cite Afghan media as saying an apparent nationwide cut of high-speed internet service has been implemented across Afghanistan amidst the ruling Taliban's moves to crack down on what they say is immorality. Internet-access advocacy group Netblocks says metrics indicate that internet connectivity across the country “collapsed” to 14% of normal levels yesterday and that telecommunications services also appear to have been affected. [more]

GERMANY AND CHINA | German media reports that Jian Guo, a German citizen, was convicted today of spying for China while working for a prominent German far-right lawmaker in the European Parliament. Guo was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison. [more]

AI INDUSTRY | A new artificial intelligence safety measure was signed into law yesterday in California, where many AI companies are based. The legislation requires companies to implement and publicly disclose safety protocols to prevent their most advanced AI models from being used to cause major harm and to report any critical safety incidents to the state within 15 days. It also creates whistleblower protections for AI workers. [more]

GAMING INDUSTRY | In what reports say is the largest private equity-funded buyout in history, video game industry giant Electronic Arts is being acquired and taken private by an investor group for $55 billion. Investors involved in the buyout include Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, and Affinity Partners, a firm managed by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1949, the Berlin airlift officially ended after the Western Allied powers delivered 2.3 million tons of food, fuel, machinery, and other supplies to West Berlin, which had been cut off during the 15-month Soviet blockade of Berlin. [more history]