Amna Nawaz:
Moscow has claimed that easing sanctions was a precondition to the targeted cease-fire deal. Ukraine denies this. Russia said Ukrainian drones have hit electric facilities in several border regions since yesterday.
The Supreme Court in Brazil has ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to stand trial on charges that he attempted a coup to stay in power three years ago. The far right leader, who governed Brazil from 2019 until 2022, will face criminal prosecution for alleged plans that included killing a Supreme Court judge and poisoning his successor, the current president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Prosecutors say the efforts to seize power continued after Lula was sworn in. Pro-Bolsonaro rioters storming Brazil’s presidential palace and Congress in 2023 was reminiscent of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Bolsonaro has denied all wrongdoing and says he’s being politically persecuted.
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians protested today against Hamas in a rare show of dissent against the ruling militant group. Hundreds of anti-war demonstrators yelled, “Hamas get out,” in a second straight day of protest in Northern Gaza. Hamas has violently cracked down on previous shows of opposition, but there was no apparent effort to do so these past two days.
In Israel’s Parliament, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the protest as evidence to claim that Israel’s renewed offensive in Gaza is working.
Massive wildfires in South Korea have killed at least 24 people and forced almost 30,000 to evacuate. The blazes are some of the worst in the country’s history. Officials say close to 5,000 firefighters and other personnel are battling at least six active fires in the country’s south. Fanned by strong winds for days, the fires have scorched nearly 70 square miles, destroying more than 300 structures, including ancient temples dating back to the seventh century.
On Wall Street today, markets closed before President Trump’s announcement on tariffs, but that didn’t keep stocks from tumbling. The Dow Jones industrial average went from an early gain to a modest loss. The Nasdaq fell precipitously, losing more than 2 percent at close. The S&P 500 also slumped by more than 1 percent.
And scientists have unearthed a new species of dinosaur in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and unveiled their findings in the journal “iScience.” The dino, known as Duonychus, lived roughly 95 million years ago and sported a pair of fearsome foot-long claws, the largest ever found fully preserved.
But the 10-foot-tall, 500-pound dinosaur was actually not a predator. It used its long claws and long neck to reach for vegetation, though experts say the species could defend itself with those sharp talons when necessary.
Still to come on the “News Hour”: the Centers for Disease Control becomes the latest federal agency to face a leadership shakeup and major cuts; Republicans question the heads of NPR and PBS as they consider pulling federal funding; and the former director of the National Institutes of Health and a truck driver discuss the nation’s divisions after the COVID pandemic.
