News Briefs

That’s even as disagreements deepened over who will take part in an international military force to provide security in the Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday rejected the participation of the Palestinian Authority or Turkish troops as part of a proposed International Stabilization Force, even as U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Ankara would play a “constructive role.” Islamic Jihad, the hardline Palestinian group that took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, confirmed for the first time yesterday its commitment to the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. The International Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday in a non-binding measure that Israel cannot obstruct UN aid efforts in Gaza and must ensure “basic needs” of Gaza’s population.

For Israelis, a legacy of the war in Gaza is international ostracism

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the strikes yesterday. The eighth and ninth such strikes were the first to take place beyond the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern Pacific. They brought the total reported death toll to 37. Mr. Hegseth compared drug smugglers to Al Qaeda terrorists and vowed “justice,” while lawmakers have pressed for legal justification for the attacks.

As US targets drug boats, Venezuelans wonder whether Maduro might be next

The “compact” offers preferential funding to schools that adopt policies aligned with the Trump administration’s values. The University of Virginia, the first public school to decline, said research should be based on merit alone. Vanderbilt’s chancellor said the school would continue a dialogue with the administration, while the University of Texas at Austin has not responded.

How intertwined are the federal government and US colleges?

Rob Perez, a Washington, D.C.-based content creator and Navy veteran, is running an extra mile for each day of the government shutdown. He talks viewers through a different aspect of the shutdown while he runs, such as how it affects federal workers. About 1.4 million government employees have been furloughed or are working without pay. Mr. Perez ran 22 miles Wednesday to mark the 22nd day of the shutdown.

Government shutdown drags on as Republicans, Democrats dig in

That’s a popular sport and eating fish whose stocks have rebounded in recent years. “South Carolina knows its waters, its fishermen, and its economy better than any federal agency ever will,” the state’s attorney general wrote in a letter to the U.S. Commerce Department. The state joins Florida and Georgia in a growing effort to localize regulation. Leaders blame bureaucratic inaction and flawed data for limiting access to the species.

Clarke Casey and Michelle Anne Ng, from Newfoundland and Singapore respectively, first corresponded in 1983 as children. They haven’t stopped. At their first meeting in Canada, the besties sifted through decades of letters, laughing and reminiscing. The friendship will continue until “we grow old together,” Ms. Ng told CBC. “Nothing’s going to stop us from writing to each other.”

Instead of a Web search, it can scan a user’s files and anticipate what else users might want to know. And rather than merely displaying information, it uses data to accomplish tasks. The software could help OpenAI earn ad revenue from Web search, but challenges remain. Still in startup phase and losing money despite ChatGPT’s success, OpenAI must compete with Google, which dominates search and is also transforming it with AI. Privacy concerns remain an issue.

That all but guarantees the state will gain Republican representation in next year’s midterm election. It’s part of a White House-led effort to secure as many GOP seats as possible ahead of an election Democrats hope could return them to power in the U.S. House. Twice as many Republican-led states as Democratic-led ones are scheduled to debate redrawn maps this year.

In Texas redistricting fight, are hardball politics proving a winning strategy?

On Monday, Illinois and the city of Chicago filed a brief arguing that the justices should not hear a Trump administration challenge to a lower court ruling barring National Guard deployment in the state. Later that day, a panel of appeals court judges said President Trump can deploy the National Guard in Portland. The Oregon attorney general has urged the full appeals court to review the decision.

From LA to Portland: Tracking Trump’s expansive use of the National Guard

The new $100,000 fee for highly skilled workers that President Trump announced last month won’t apply to those already in the U.S. or recent college grads on F-1 visas, according to the latest guidance from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, representing 300,000 businesses, sued last week over the H-1B visa fee.

Why India may be the winner from Trump’s H-1B price hike

Energy ministers approved the plan Monday. The European Union likes to act unanimously both as a symbol of unity and to prevent divisions. The decision comes over the objections of Hungary and Slovakia, who import Russian oil and are among the most pro-Russia voices in the bloc. The goal is two-fold: sanctioning Russia and building European energy independence. France and Belgium are among the countries still importing Russian gas.

As Russia hits energy grid, Ukraine tries to avoid a cold, dark winter

It’s a sign that peace between the neighboring countries is “no longer on paper, but in practice,” said Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev. Transit had been banned for nearly four decades during conflict over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. A spokeswoman for the Armenian government praised the development as a step toward “institutionalizing the peace established” in a U.S.-brokered agreement in August.

As Armenia seeks peace with old foes abroad, civil unrest grows at home

That’s according to a new report by Northwestern University’s school of journalism. Nearly 40% of local newspapers have shuttered in the last 20 years, leaving 50 million Americans with limited or no access to a local news source. Some 300 outlets, mostly digital-only, have launched in the last five years to fill that gap, but these remain concentrated in urban areas. Thirty-nine states have fewer than 1,000 journalists.

About 80 percent of the additional 10 gigawatts requested by Georgia Power, the utility, is set to go to power new data centers circling the capital of Atlanta. The state leads the nation in new AI data centers. Its public utility commission will have to balance business interests in the Republican state with rapidly rising costs for consumers, who pay higher rates for their lights than industry. The public hearings are a microcosm of a growing debate around the power demands of Big Data.

Yes, AI is power-hungry. But there’s more to surging electricity prices.

Republicans say they want energy dominance. But will ‘big bill’ deliver?

In her third attempt to lead the country, Ms. Takaichi won a parliamentary vote Tuesday, breaking a historic glass ceiling in Japan, where women still lag behind men in gender equality. Yet the conservative politician is not known as a strong promoter of women’s rights or diversity. She is expected to prioritize Japan’s defense buildup and fighting inflation.

In Japan, too, voters want their country to be ‘great again’

They hope to move the 12-day-old peace deal onto its even trickier subsequent phases. Both Israel and Hamas recommitted to the ceasefire after weekend violence threatened to derail it. Underscoring his commitment to the deal, President Donald Trump dispatched envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to the region. The two met yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Vice President JD Vance is also headed to Israel.

With ceasefire and hostage deal, Gaza clears a hurdle. Taller ones remain.

Communist Party leaders are meeting in Beijing to set strategic economic priorities for 2026-2030. Faced with growing “external shocks” – a reference to the U.S.-China trade war – they plan to stress modern manufacturing and innovation, state-run media reported today. Despite U.S. tariffs, China’s gross domestic product is expected to grow by about 5% this year, buoyed by strong industrial output and exports.

Soybean bailout? Hard-hit farmers want China trade more than Trump aid.

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol championed the experiment – and hefty investment – as a way to personalize learning and reduce teacher workload, reports Rest of World. But after one semester and complaints ranging from privacy concerns to factual inaccuracies, the government reclassified the textbooks as “supplementary material,” meaning schools can choose whether to use them. Many have not.

Meet the students who are just saying no to AI