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Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news: ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR – CEASEFIRE The Israeli military said yesterday that it conducted a “targeted strike” in the area of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, adding that it was targeting a site where weapons were stored. The strikes killed at least two people, according to al-Shifa Hospital. Ahmed Elimam reports for Reuters; Stephen Quillen reports for Al Jazeera. Israel released a 15-minute drone video on Tuesday, allegedly showing Hamas members staging the discovery of a deceased Israeli hostage on Monday. The New York Times confirmed that the video was filmed in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, and satellite imagery confirmed that dirt was moved from that area between Monday and Tuesday. It is unclear why the bag with the body inside was reburied and unearthed as shown in the video, or how that was explained to Red Cross representatives. Aric Toler, Arijeta Lajka, Monika Cvorak, and Liam Stack report for the New York Times. WEST BANK VIOLENCE Israel has erected nearly 1,000 barriers in cities and towns across the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the war in Gaza, according to an official Palestinian governmental body. The barriers include metal gates stationed at village and town entrances, which block access in and out, with the Israeli military sometimes stationed at them. The U.N. documented the installation of 18 gates in the West Bank at the beginning of September. Israel says the gates are to “manage and monitor.” Sam Mednick and Jalal Bwaitel report for AP News. RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed yesterday that Russian troops have surrounded Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk and Kupiansk. Putin offered to negotiate a deal for their surrender, adding that Russia was ready to open safe corridors for Western journalists to “let them see with their own eyes what’s going on.” Ukrainian armed forces said that Moscow’s claims about Kupiansk are “fabrications and fantasies, while the situation in Pokrovsk is “hard but under control,” a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces told AP News. Independent verification of the claims was not possible. Illia Novikov reports. OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS Israeli troops overnight killed a municipal employee who was sleeping in the town hall in Blida, southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. The Israeli military confirmed the incident, saying that “during the procedures, an immediate threat against the troops was identified, and they fired to remove it.” Lebanese President Joseph Aoun instructed the army commander to confront any Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the incursion “a blatant attack on the institutions and sovereignty of the Lebanese state.” Maya Gebeily reports for Reuters. Putin said yesterday that Russia had successfully tested Poseidon, a nuclear-powered super torpedo. The Poseidon is a new weapon that breaks most of the traditional nuclear deterrence and classification rules, according to arms control experts. There are few confirmed details about the new weapon. Guy Falconbridge and Maxim Rodionov report for Reuters. The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, a major ethnic rebel group in Myanmar, announced yesterday that it signed a ceasefire deal with Myanmar’s military government following two days of China-mediated talks earlier this week. The military government did not immediately comment on the ceasefire. AP News reports. The World Health Organization said yesterday that more than 450 patients and companions were massacred on Tuesday in the last operating hospital in El Fasher, Sudan. WHO did not confirm who was responsible for the killings. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, announced an investigation into violations committed by his soldiers during the capture of El Fasher. Declan Walsh reports for the New York Times; Barbara Plett Usher reports for BBC News. Between December 2024 and July 2025, over 430,000 people in Syria were newly displaced, according to the United Nations. The biggest displacements were in the southern province of Sweida, where sectarian violence broke out in the summer. Decades-old property disputes and the Israeli occupation of land in southern Syria have also led to the displacement of people. Raja Abdulrahim and Reham Mourshed report for the New York Times. TECH DEVELOPMENTS Israel demanded that Google and Amazon include a “winking mechanism” in their 2021 Project Nimbus contracts, which would alert the Israeli government, through a coded payment system, when Israeli data had been disclosed to foreign courts or investigators, according to leaked documents seen by the Guardian, as part of a joint investigation with Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call. Google and Amazon have both denied evading any legal obligations. Harry Davies and Yuval Abraham report for The Guardian. U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS Immigration authorities did not receive notice of a court order blocking the removal of Chanthila Souvannarath until after he had been deported to Laos, the Homeland Security Department said yesterday. The American Civil Liberties Union asked the federal judge to order Souvannarath’s immediate return to the United States, calling his deportation “unlawful.” Jim Mustian and Jack Brook report for AP News. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) yesterday said the state’s colleges and universities should “pull the plug” on the use of H-1B visas, adding that the jobs should go to U.S. citizens. Further details for the plan remain unclear. Vimal Patel and Alan Blinder report for the New York Times. ICE allegedly furloughed most of its congressional relations team during the government shutdown, according to a letter sent to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons from 15 House Democrats. “ICE continues to conduct raids, make arrests, deny bonds, and execute removal orders, but the staff who would answer inquiries from congressional offices […] are furloughed, the letter says. Eric Bazil-Eimil reports for POLITICO. U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS The U.S. military yesterday killed another four people in a strike against a boat allegedly operated by a “designated terrorist organization” in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said yesterday. Helene Cooper and Robert Jimison report for the New York Times. The House Armed Services Committee will be briefed this morning by Pentagon officials and Joint Chiefs of Staff on “counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean and Pacific,” Axios learned. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who confirmed that the meeting today was going ahead, said yesterday that so far “zero evidence has been presented [to him] to justify the strikes that have taken place.” Andrew Solender and Kate Santaliz report. U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS President Donald Trump said yesterday that the United States will share technology with South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told Trump in their meeting that South Korea’s current diesel-powered submarines have limits in tracking other countries’ submarine activities and that they have to resurface regularly to recharge. Chris Megerian and Josh Boak report for AP News. 700 U.S. troops, deployed in Romania, Germany, and Poland, will be withdrawn from Eastern Europe, U.S. and Romanian officials said yesterday. The U.S. Army command in Europe said that the 2nd Brigade Team will not be replaced after its scheduled rotation out of Eastern Europe, adding, “this is not an American withdrawal from Europe […] Rather this is a positive sign of increased European capability and responsibility.” Lynsey Chutel reports for the New York Times. The U.S. government, across five Republican and Democratic administrations, has repeatedly allowed U.S. firms to sell technology to Chinese police, government agencies, and surveillance companies, an AP News investigation has found. Lawmakers have repeatedly failed to close loopholes that allow China to circumvent export bans by using cloud services, third-party resellers, and holes in sanctions. Despite U.S. export rules around advanced AI chips, China bought $20.7 billion worth of chipmaking equipment from U.S. companies in 2024, according to a congressional committee report. Garance Burke, Dake Kang, and Byron Tau report for AP News. “It was an amazing meeting,” Trump said today following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, “12 out of 10.” Trump said that he had agreed to reduce tariffs on China from 57% to 47% in exchange for Beijing taking action on illicit fentanyl trade and resuming U.S. soybean purchases. China also agreed to pause export controls on rare earths for a year, according to a statement from China’s commerce ministry. Trevor Hunnicutt reports for Reuters. U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS Around 160 Republicans were reportedly investigated in the FBI’s Arctic Frost probe into Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, newly released documents show. The House Judiciary Committee said on social media that the new documents “reveal even further wide-ranging investigation by Biden’s DOJ to take down President Trump and his supporters.” Julianna Bragg reports for Axios. A federal grand jury in Chicago indicted six people, including Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, on charges unsealed yesterday of interfering with a federal agent during a protest. Mitch Smith reports for the New York Times. Two federal prosecutors have been put on administrative leave after referring to the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack as being committed by “thousands of people comprising mob rioters,” according to two sources. The description is found in a sentencing recommendation for Taylor Taranto, who was pardoned by Trump for his role in the riot but is awaiting sentencing this Friday for unrelated threats and firearms crimes. Yesterday evening, a revised memo was filed by a new set of prosecutors that had removed all references to the attack on the Capitol. Kyle Cheney reports for POLITICO. FEDERALIZATION OF POLICING The National Guard plans to train hundreds of troops in each state to be part of a rapid-response force focused on civil disturbance, two U.S. officials said yesterday. The sources said that states would be required to have a rapid-response force by the start of next year, with most states required to have 500 troops in the force. It is unclear how the force would be different from existing quick-reaction forces. Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart report for Reuters. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS Trump today ordered the U.S. military to resume nuclear weapons testing. “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis,” Trump said on social media. Trevor Hunnicutt, Ismail Shakil, and Kanishka Singh report for Reuters. Hegseth is expected to announce significant changes that could reshape how the Pentagon sends weapons to allies on November 7 at a meeting of defense industry executives, according to seven sources. The plan aims to accelerate weapons production and government-led arms purchases. Joe Gould and Paul McLeary report for POLITICO. Three-star general Lt. Gen. Joe McGee, the director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy on the Joint Staff, was pushed out of his role earlier this month following tensions with Hegseth, according to sources. The sources said that McGee frequently “pushed back” against Hegseth on issues such as Russia-Ukraine to operations in the Caribbean. “He has had a target on his back for a while now, “ one source said. A Pentagon spokesperson said, “General McGee is retiring, and the War Department is grateful for his service.” Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, and Haley Britzky report for CNN. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
