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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
In a social media post, President Trump yesterday said that he is designating Antifa as a “major terrorist organization.” It is unclear what mechanism Trump hopes to use to implement, as “antifa” is an umbrella description for far-left-leaning movements, and there would be no statutory authority to designate domestic terrorist groups like there is for foreign terrorist organizations. Aaron Pellish reports for POLITICO.
The Trump administration yesterday announced the launch of a new civics education coalition. The coalition unites the Education Department and more than 40 groups aligned with Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, including the Heritage Foundation, Turning Point USA, and the America First Policy Institute. The Education Department said the initiative is dedicated to “renewing patriotism, strengthening civic knowledge, and advancing a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools.” Michael C. Bender reports for the New York Times; Sequoia Carrillo reports for NPR.
The White House is drawing up an executive order on political violence and hate speech, a Trump administration official indicated yesterday. According to the official, the plan could be unveiled later this week, and its specifics are still being hammered out by Trump’s top advisers, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. James Oliphant and Jeff Mason report for Reuters.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other military leaders are cracking down on Pentagon staffers’ alleged mocking of Charlie Kirk’s death. According to a congressional aide and a source close to the Pentagon, several troops have been fired or punished for social media posts that do not necessarily attack Kirk. A Defense Department official indicated that a suspension process has also been started in response to far-right influencers flagging service members they believe are making negative comments about Kirk. Paul McLeary and Jack Detsch report for POLITICO.
U.S. POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Disney-owned ABC yesterday announced it would “indefinitely” suspend comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show. On Monday, Kimmel criticized “the MAGA gang” as “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” with his remarks drawing sharp reactions from conservatives. In a podcast episode released yesterday, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr implied that the FCC could suspend ABC’s broadcast licenses if it does not “take action on Kimmel.” John Koblin, Michael M. Grynbaum, and Brooks Barnes report for the New York Times; Jacob Wendler reports for POLITICO.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) yesterday asked the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit to testify about the “radicalization of online forum users” at an October 8 hearing following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. David Shepardson reports for Reuters.
House members will be allowed $10,000 per month to cover personal security costs in the wake of Kirk’s assassination, twice the funding currently available under a pilot program created this summer to boost member security, House leaders announced yesterday. Katherine Tully-McManus and Jennifer Scholtes report for POLITICO.
A GOP resolution to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) over comments and a social media repost she made on Charlie Kirk’s death failed yesterday. Republican Reps. Cory Mills (FL), Jeff Hurd (CO), Tom McClintock (CA), and Mike Flood (NE) joined Democrats to defeat the measure in a 214-213 vote. Katy Stech Ferek and Jasmine Li report for the Wall Street Journal.
Russian, Iranian, and Chinese state media have mentioned “Charlie Kirk” over 6,200 times between Sep. 10 and Sep. 17, according to a social media analytics tool used by NewsGuard, a company that tracks disinformation online. All three countries framed the killing as a Western conspiracy and spread false narratives about Kirk’s death, although the details of their claims differed. Steven Lee Myers reports for the New York Times.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer today and announce the unveiling of a £150 billion ($205 billion) package of U.S. investment in the United Kingdom. Starmer is also expected to discuss foreign affairs with Trump, hoping to persuade him to take stronger action against Russia and Israel. U.S. companies that are expected to invest in the United Kingdom under the deal include Blackstone, Palantir, and Boeing. Steve Holland, Elizabeth Piper, and Andrew Macaskill report for Reuters; Shawn McCreesh reports for the New York Times; Charlotte Edwards and Michael Race report for BBC News.
The International Monetary Fund is likely to tap Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Chief of Staff, Dan Katz, as the IMF’s second-in-command, sources say. Katz’s nomination could be announced as soon as tomorrow, the sources add. Victoria Guida and Megan Messerly report for POLITICO.
Some military lawyers and Defense Department officials are raising concerns about the legality of Trump’s campaign of military strikes on vessels allegedly affiliated with Latin America-based drug cartels, sources say. According to the sources, the concerns relate both to the legal justification for the strikes themselves as well as legal implications of the campaign for U.S. military personnel. At least some defense officials and career military lawyers who provided their opinions on the matter to Pentagon decision-makers believe they are being ignored or deliberately sidelined, one of the sources added. Lara Seligman reports for the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “the most corrupt federal agency in the world” and said CDC staffers are “horrible people” who were “bought by the pharmaceutical industry” and “were killing children and they don’t care,” former CDC Director Susan Monarez testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee yesterday. Monarez also said that Kennedy said that he had spoken to the White House about replacing her if she did not commit “to blanket approval to each of the recommendations” made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Robert King reports for POLITICO.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, one of the United States’ most respected scientific bodies, yesterday issued a review of climate science concluding that the evidence of climate change was “beyond scientific dispute.” According to the chair of the committee that authored the report, Shirley Tilghman, the “study was undertaken with the ultimate aim of informing the EPA … as it considers the status of the endangerment finding.” Alex Guillén reports for POLITICO.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
Nvidia has agreed to invest $5 billion in Intel, announcing today that the two companies will “multiple generations of custom data center and PC products.” Nvidia’s investment will give it a 4% stake in Intel, making it one of the chipmaker’s largest shareholders, and follows the U.S government’s purchase of a 10% stake in Intel a few weeks ago. Ian King reports for Bloomberg; Reuters reports.
Microsoft, Google and Nvidia have announced more than $40 billion in investments for AI in the United Kingdom during Trump’s state visit this week. Several U.S. tech leaders are participating in Trump’s visit, including Open AI’s Sam Altman and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. A U.S. tech industry representative told Politico that with these plans for investment in Britain, “we would like to see [is] a trade barrier being lowered in the digital service tax.” Tim Bradshaw, David Sheppard, Stephen Morris and Michael Action report for the Financial Times; Adam Satariano reports for the New York Times; Tom Bristow and Aaron Mak report for Politico.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation is dropping its antitrust probe into Google, two sources told the Financial Times. The sources say this is a tactical decision to focus on Nvidia as a point of leverage in U.S.-China trade talks while sending a positive sign to Washington by dropping its investigation into Google. According to a source, “China is trying to narrow its retaliatory targets to make them more potent.” Stephen Morris reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Dozens of Israeli tanks yesterday entered Sheikh Radwan, a major residential district of Gaza City, according to local residents and eyewitnesses. The district is considered one of the city’s most densely populated areas. Israeli strikes have also cut off phone and internet services in the city, making it harder for Palestinians to call for help, the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said. The Israeli military said that it is looking into the incident and does not deliberately target public communication networks. Rushdi Abualouf reports for BBC News; Julia Frankel and Samy Magdy report for AP News.
No food aid has entered northern Gaza since Friday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday, saying that Israel’s military had closed an important border crossing, Zikim, on that date. According to the office, aid groups have “grave concerns over fuel and food stock depletion” due to the closure. Separately, the Israeli military agency that manages aid to Gaza, COGAT, said that 230 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday, including through the Zikim crossing. COGAT declined to explain the discrepancy between its account and the U.N. report. Cassandra Vinograd, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Gabby Sobelman, and Liam Stack report for the New York Times.
The destruction in Gaza could be turned into a “real estate bonanza” under a plan that is currently on Trump’s table, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said yesterday. Smotrich also said that he has “started negotiations with the Americans” because Israel “paid a lot of money for this war, so we need to divide how we make a percentage on the land marketing later in Gaza.” Babak Dehghanpisheh and Omer Bekin report for NBC News.
The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has now surpassed 65,000, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Julia Frankel and Samy Magdy report for AP News.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The United Kingdom will this weekend formally recognise Palestine as a state ahead of the U.N. General Assembly next week, the Times reports, adding that U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is delaying an announcement on the issue until after Trump’s visit concludes his state visit to Britain. Steven Swinford reports.
SYRIA — U.S. RESPONSE
Syria’s interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani is expected to visit Washington, D.C., today for talks on permanently lifting the remaining U.S. sanctions against Syria, lawmakers and U.S. officials say. Shaibani is expected to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio tomorrow, according to Axios. Barak Ravid reports.
Some top-ranking U.S. diplomats working on Syria have been abruptly let go from their posts in recent days, several sources say. The diplomats who were let go reported to the U.S. special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack. One of the sources said that the departures would not affect U.S. policy in Syria, while a Western diplomat suggested that the move was in part driven by a “divergence” in views between the staffers and Barack on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Jonathan Spicer, Suleiman Al-Khalidi, and Humeyra Pamuk report for Reuters.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Fifteen people have been charged with terrorism offences in Lithuania for the detonations of explosives carried in packages by DHL and DPD from Vilnius to Germany, Poland and the UK in July last year, Lithuanian prosecutors announced in a statement yesterday. The prosecutors said that the incidents were coordinated by individuals with links to Russian military intelligence services. George Wright reports for BBC News; Andrius Sytas reports for Reuters.
Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz arrived in Ukraine today for talks on developing Poland’s drone capabilities, following the Russian incursion last week. “We will be signing an agreement concerning cooperation between the ministries, but also acquiring capabilities when it comes to operating drones”, Kosiniak-Kamysz said. AP News reports.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced yesterday that Denmark will acquire long-range precision weapons in response to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. Frederiksen called it “a paradigm shift in Danish defense policy” and said “there is no doubt that Russia will be a threat to Denmark and Europe for many years.” Maya Tekeli and Jeffrey Gettleman report for the New York Times.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact yesterday, strengthening their existing security partnership. “This is a comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means,” a senior Saudi official told Reuters when asked whether Pakistan would provide Saudi Arabia with a nuclear umbrella. Maha El Dahan and Saeed Shah report.
Thai security forces clashed yesterday with Cambodian protestors in a disputed border area, with 28 people injured and no deaths reported according to Cambodian official statements. A Thai army spokesperson said that the Thai authorities considered the incident to be a provocation and an intentional violation of the ceasefire agreed in July. The Cambodian government issued a statement that Thai security forces “used tear gas against Cambodian civilians in an attempt to surround land that Cambodians have long lived on.” Sopheng Cheang and Grant Peck report for AP News.
Yulia Navalnaya alleged yesterday that lab tests of biological samples taken from her husband, Alexei Navalny, prove that he was poisoned. She did not provide evidence of the test but urged the laboratories, in two unspecified countries, who conducted the tests, to publish them. Matthew Luxmoore reports for the Wall Street Journal.
The Taliban administration yesterday announced the imposition of an internet ban intended to “prevent immoral activities” across large parts of northern Afghanistan. The ban is the first such ban since the Taliban took over in August 2021. Mohammad Yunus Yawar reports for Reuters.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Trump administration cannot, for now, proceed with its planned overhaul of the Health and Human Services Department, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The court upheld a lower court’s injunction prohibiting mass firings at the agency for the duration of litigation contesting the move and rejected the Trump administration’s claim that states who sued could not show they would be irreparably harmed by the injunction being lifted. Nate Raymond and Daniel Wiessner report for Reuters.
A federal judge yesterday temporarily prohibited the Trump administration from holding immigrants for prolonged periods of time in unsafe and unsanitary conditions at a Manhattan detention center. In his order, the judge said that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that the conditions in the holding cells violated the First and Fifth Amendments. Luis Ferré-Sadurní reports for the New York Times; Beth Wang reports for Bloomberg Law.
An immigration judge ordered Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation to Algeria or Syria last Friday. The judge denied Khalil’s motion for a waiver preventing his deportation because of misrepresentations made in his application to register permanent residence. In a statement, Khalil remarked that the Trump administration’s “latest attempt, through a kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again.” Chloe Atkins and Marlene Lenthang report for NBC News.
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