President Trump will host a signing ceremony tomorrow at the White House for a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, alongside the leaders of those countries.
The big picture: The deal is one of Trump's most significant foreign policy achievements so far and could help end one of the world's longest-running conflicts.
Senior UN aid officials met Wednesday with the chair of the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, marking their first direct engagement since the foundation began operating in Gaza in late May, according to a U.S. official and two other sources with direct knowledge.
Why it matters: The U.S.-brokered meeting at the UN mission in New York came after months of bitter public exchanges between the UN and the GHF, as Gaza spirals deeper into starvation.
White House envoy Steve Witkoff plans to hold a video conference on Thursday with senior officials from Ukraine, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. to brief them on his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discuss the path forward, including a possible Trump-Putin summit, according to two sources with direct knowledge.
Why it matters: PresidentTrump was moving toward a much tougher position on Russia, but pivoted after the Trump-Witkoff meeting to talking optimistically about the "progress" being made and the possibility of a summit with Putin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump have agreed to meet, likely next week, the Kremlin said Thursday.
Putin himself was somewhat more noncommittal later on Thursday, saying only that there was mutual interest in meeting, possibly in the United Arab Emirates.
Friction point: The White House wants to follow a Trump-Putin meeting with a three-way peace summit involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Putin seems cool on that idea, and the Ukrainians think he's just trying to soften Trump's position.
President Trump celebrated his sweeping new tariffs finally taking effect on dozens of trading partners early Thursday.
Why it matters: Trump's tariff policy has begun to impact some businesses, which warn they'll have to pass costs onto consumers. But the president wrote on Truth Social as the levies took effect that "BILLIONS OF DOLLARS" were now "FLOWING" into the U.S.
Major League Baseball has announced that a minor league veteran umpire will become the first female umpire ever to work a regular-season Major League game.
Why it matters: When Jen Pawol walks on the field during this weekend's Marlins-Braves series in Atlanta, she'll be breaking another barrier in a league that helped break the color line with Jackie Robinson nearly 80 years ago.
President Trump does not oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to launch a new military operation to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, U.S. and Israeli officials say.
Why it matters: The Israeli Security Cabinet is expected to approve on Thursday a highly controversial plan to expand the war. According to the sources, Trump has decided not to intervene and to let the Israeli government make its own decisions.
President Trump imposed penalties over Russia's invasion of Ukraine for the first time on Wednesday, while also striking an optimistic note about the potential for progress.
Split screen: Shortly after White House envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday, President Trump signed an order doubling tariffs on India to 50% over its purchases of Russian oil and paving the way for similar penalties for other countries.
But hours later he posted that there had been "great progress" made in the Putin-Witkoff meeting, and that further work toward ending the war would take place "in the days and weeks to come."
Wednesday marks the 80th anniversary of the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan — an event that helped end World War II but also brought the world into the nuclear age and the Cold War.
Japan uses the anniversary to commemorate the lives of the Hibakusha, survivors of the bombing, and asks the world to heed the dangers of nuclear war.
The big picture: Here are some images from this crucial moment in world history.
Why it matters: The landmark defense pact — designed to arm Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. with nuclear-powered submarines and cutting-edge tech, including hypersonic weapons and electronic jammers — is today navigating choppy waters.
The U.S. travel industry is warning that a new $250 visa fee could deter millions of international visitors just as the country gears up to host the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics.
Why it matters: The fee comes at a crucial moment for U.S. tourism, with America's 250th birthday next year.
The Titan submersible implosion that killed five people occurred in large part because operator OceanGate had failed to follow "established engineering protocols for safety, testing, and maintenance" of the vessel, a U.S. Coast Guard report finds.
The big picture: OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush may have faced criminal charges if he hadn't been killed during the "preventable tragedy" that occurred during a June 2023 diving trip to the wreck of the Titanic, according to the damning report that was published Tuesday.
Chikungunya virus outbreaks have prompted the CDC to issue travel alerts warning U.S. travelers of an "elevated risk" of exposure to the mosquito-borne illness in China and several other countries.
The big picture: Some 240,000 chikungunya cases have been reported in parts of Central and South America, Africa, the Indian Ocean region and Asia this year, including 90 deaths. Officials in Guangdong province, South China, have confirmed at least 7,000 illnesses since June.
