CNN reports that the White House has been expanding a taxpayer-funded promotional campaign that critics describe as a muscular political-style pitch for President Trump, drawing fresh bipartisan criticism over the boundary between official communications and political promotion. Some lawmakers and press-freedom groups are calling for stricter oversight of government communications spending.
Ethiopian federal forces have retaken Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region, after opposition fighters briefly held the city. Four African heads of state have issued a joint declaration calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The FBI has arrested an individual accused of acting on behalf of Chinese government intelligence and targeting family members of Taiwan’s senior leadership, the latest flashpoint in an intensifying US-China shadow war over the Taiwan Strait.
NBC News reports that US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has recused himself from a major climate case, a reversal that comes after complaints about his financial interests in oil and gas holdings in the area at issue. The decision marks an important reversal of position for Alito and brings judicial ethics back to the center of public debate. It will also have a meaningful impact on the case’s proceedings and on the Supreme Court’s posture on climate regulation.
Reuters reports that Pope Leo, during a visit to France, publicly called on all sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict to make the concessions needed for peace, stressing that military means cannot fundamentally resolve the crisis. The remarks continue the Vatican’s mediation tradition in the war, though they have drawn mixed reactions from the parties to the conflict and from within the Catholic Church. The statement underscores the moral authority and diplomatic influence the Vatican still carries on major geopolitical issues.
BBC reports that a Russian drone strike damaged the building of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv, prompting emergency evacuations of nearby residents. Coming amid an escalation of long-range strikes between the two sides, the strike on a cultural and academic landmark has drawn fresh international concern about the boundaries of Russia’s military operations and the protection of cultural property in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called a snap general election for November 29 after his government suffered a crushing defeat on a housing bill that triggered nationwide protests, pushing Europe’s fourth-largest economy into a season of political risk.
CBS News and The New York Times report that FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey, once widely viewed as a potential successor to the bureau’s director, has resigned. The departure comes against a backdrop of sensitive investigations and internal pressure, drawing attention from the US law enforcement community and Congressional overseers. Bailey had served only a relatively short time and has not publicly disclosed specific reasons for leaving, raising fresh questions about the stability of FBI leadership and the direction of its investigative work.
The New York Times reports that the Trump administration and Transportation Secretary Duffy have unveiled the “Freedom Means Affordable Cars” initiative, sharply rolling back fuel economy standards for new vehicles. The new rule significantly reduces automakers’ mandatory emissions and fuel-efficiency obligations, and is being framed by environmental groups, California’s Air Resources Board and several automakers as a major reversal of US climate policy that is likely to trigger legal challenges and industry-wide ripple effects.
British police arrested five men near a major US-operated air base in southwest England, foiling a security threat plot against the facility, the BBC and AP reported, with the five suspects identified as UK nationals from London, drawing intense cross-Atlantic intelligence cooperation and putting the threat to US military installations on the joint UK-US agenda once again.