Latest / The Rest of the World Podcast / The Rest of the World Report | October 29, 2026 — Morning Edition

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The Rest of the World Report | October 29, 2026 — Morning Edition · The Rest of the World Podcast

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  [music]
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning from Paris.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rudy Martinez with The Rest of the World Report for Thursday morning, October 29th.
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  SPEAKER_00: First up, allies told to prepare for Iran.
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  SPEAKER_00: Two diplomats said U.S.
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  SPEAKER_00: officials have urged several Middle East countries to prepare
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  SPEAKER_00: for possible renewed military action against Iran after the November 3rd midterm.
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  SPEAKER_00: The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity.
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  SPEAKER_00: They said U.S. officials told the allies a new round could last several days.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Allies were urged to take precautions against Iranian strikes
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  SPEAKER_00: on energy facilities and other infrastructure.
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  SPEAKER_00: Trump has not made a final decision, diplomats stressed.
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  SPEAKER_00: On Wednesday, he told reporters anything is possible.
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  SPEAKER_00: The White House and the U.S. officials declined to comment.
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  SPEAKER_00: In the Strait of Hormuz,
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  SPEAKER_00: Iran's Revolutionary Guard said three tankers exploded and caught fire
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  SPEAKER_00: after hitting sea mines in the past 24 hours.
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  SPEAKER_00: The statement, carried by state media, says they were on an unauthorized southern route.
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  SPEAKER_00: The guards said the ships had switched off their radar and navigation systems
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  SPEAKER_00: and ignored warnings.
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  SPEAKER_00: The UK Maritime Agency, UKMTO,
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  SPEAKER_00: reported one ship on fire about 17 kilometers off Oman, sighted by a passing ship.
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  SPEAKER_00: They did not say what caused the fire,
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  SPEAKER_00: and no independent source has confirmed three tankers or mines.
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  SPEAKER_00: The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remains in place.
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  SPEAKER_00: The guards have also said they captured a U.S. MQM-170 surveillance drone west of the strait.
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  SPEAKER_00: The claim is the Guard's own.
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  SPEAKER_00: Guard spokesman Hussein Mohebi said the strait will stay closed until Iran's conditions are met.
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  SPEAKER_00: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragji wrote on X that Iran continues to give diplomacy a chance.
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  SPEAKER_00: He said Iran is in contact with intermediaries on a seven-day plan to end the war
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  SPEAKER_00: and reopen Hormuz, which could be carried out in less than a week.
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  SPEAKER_00: Trump's account of a direct U.S. approach differs from that of two officials.
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  SPEAKER_00: A senior U.S. official and an Iranian official said Vice President J.D.
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  SPEAKER_00: Vance sent a letter delivered Sunday to Moshe Rezai,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
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  SPEAKER_00: It proposes renewing comprehensive peace talks with Iran's nuclear program on
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  SPEAKER_00: the table from the start.
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  SPEAKER_00: The U.S. official said Trump read and approved the letter before it was sent.
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  SPEAKER_00: Trump has said the contact concerned medical supplies for Iran.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Iranian official said Iran's leaders received the proposal well
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  SPEAKER_00: and Rezai was expected to reply by Thursday.
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  SPEAKER_00: Both officials said talks could start as early as next week in Qatar or Turkey.
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  SPEAKER_00: Trump also put Iran's inflation at 301%.
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  SPEAKER_00: Iranian official data reported by Iranian media shows annual inflation of 73.6%.
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  SPEAKER_00: Translators notes.
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  SPEAKER_00: The governments told to plan for the strikes are the ones that would absorb
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  SPEAKER_00: the reply, and the warning reached the public through anonymous diplomats.
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  SPEAKER_00: The diplomats said the allies were urged to prepare for Iranian strikes on energy facilities.
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  SPEAKER_00: The same 24 hours brought a burning ship in Hormuz.
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  SPEAKER_00: Indian coverage frames this as mixed signals.
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  SPEAKER_00: One is a strike warning the Gulf,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the other,
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  SPEAKER_00: a letter to Tehran,
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  SPEAKER_00: and Trump's description of the letter differs from the officials.
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  SPEAKER_00: Iran's answer is also two tracks,
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  SPEAKER_00: a seven-day plan on offer and a guard statement that the strait stays shut.
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  SPEAKER_00: For the Gulf,
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  SPEAKER_00: November 3rd is a planning date for energy facilities as much as
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  SPEAKER_00: an American voting day.
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
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  SPEAKER_00: Due diplomats say U.S.
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  SPEAKER_00: officials have told the Middle East allies to prepare for possible strikes on Iran
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  SPEAKER_00: after November 3rd midterms.
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  SPEAKER_00: The allies were told to expect Iranian attacks on energy facilities
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  SPEAKER_00: and other infrastructure, and Trump has not decided.
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  SPEAKER_00: Iran says three tankers hit mines in Hormuz,
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  SPEAKER_00: but a maritime agency has confirmed only one burning ship.
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  SPEAKER_00: Iran says it is still open to diplomacy.
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  SPEAKER_00: DHS Employee Identities Published.
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  SPEAKER_00: A hacktivist group calling itself the Department of Peace has published
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  SPEAKER_00: a searchable database of more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security employees
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  SPEAKER_00: and contractors, according to documents posted online.
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  SPEAKER_00: The records expose names,
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  SPEAKER_00: offices,
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  SPEAKER_00: and contact information for immigration officers,
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  SPEAKER_00: border agents, and undercover investigators.
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  SPEAKER_00: Reporters who viewed the database verified its authenticity with current
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  SPEAKER_00: and former DHS officials.
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  SPEAKER_00: A separate review put the total at more than 40,000 and verified part of the data
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  SPEAKER_00: by matching known DHS employees against an online copy.
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  SPEAKER_00: The group said it gained access through the single sign-on service DHS employees use
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  SPEAKER_00: to log into internal systems.
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  SPEAKER_00: The hacker said it was an Okta system.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okta said it has no evidence its data or systems were compromised.
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  SPEAKER_00: One review estimates the records were taken around mid-August.
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  SPEAKER_00: The group published the records on Wednesday.
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  SPEAKER_00: Reports put the number from Customs and Border Protection at more than 21,000,
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  SPEAKER_00: and they put ICE staff at between 6,600 to about 10,000.
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  SPEAKER_00: DHS said it is aware of a potential breach and is working to address it.
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  SPEAKER_00: John Sandweg, an acting ICE director under Obama, called it a nightmare scenario.
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  SPEAKER_00: Current and former DHS officials told reporters the exposure appeared
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  SPEAKER_00: to be unprecedented in the agency's history.
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  SPEAKER_00: A former ICE official speaking anonymously said
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  SPEAKER_00: the investigation unit's intelligence section issued a bulletin to agents.
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  SPEAKER_00: Several ICE and CBP officers reached through the leaked contact details,
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  SPEAKER_00: said they had not yet been told.
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  SPEAKER_00: The group's stated goal is oversight and transparency of DHS.
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  SPEAKER_00: Emma Best,
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  SPEAKER_00: co-founder of Distributed Denial of Secrets,
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  SPEAKER_00: which received the records,
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  SPEAKER_00: said the release aims to replace anonymity with accountability.
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  SPEAKER_00: The group said the database is not a full list and may contain inaccuracies.
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  SPEAKER_00: The ICE list said on social media it is reviewing the leak
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
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  SPEAKER_00: The group calling itself the Department of Peace has published the names
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  SPEAKER_00: and contact details of 40,000 to 41,000 DHS employees and contractors.
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  SPEAKER_00: They include ICE and Border Patrol agents.
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  SPEAKER_00: DHS is aware of a potential breach.
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  SPEAKER_00: The group says the list is incomplete and may contain errors.
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  SPEAKER_00: Israel vote count nears its end.
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  SPEAKER_00: With about 90% of the vote counted, neither bloc has a majority.
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  SPEAKER_00: Netanyahu's bloc has 53 of the 120 seats,
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  SPEAKER_00: Gadi Eisencott's centrist bloc has 48, and the Arab majority parties have 19.
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  SPEAKER_00: A majority needs 61.
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  SPEAKER_00: Between 400,000 and 500,000 special double envelope ballots remain.
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  SPEAKER_00: They come from soldiers, diplomats, and voters who could not reach their polling stations.
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  SPEAKER_00: Final results could come as early as Thursday evening.
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  SPEAKER_00: President Isaac Herzog will begin consulting party leaders on forming a government next week.
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  SPEAKER_00: Likud has accused the Arab parties of stealing the election.
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  SPEAKER_00: The joint list said Arab voter turnout,
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  SPEAKER_00: which reports describe as a record, played a decisive role.
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  SPEAKER_00: National Security Minister Itmar Ben-Gvir wrote on X that Shin Bet should order
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  SPEAKER_00: the arrests of the heads of Arab parties that morning over suspected Qatari money.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Wire report described the claims by several ministers that
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  SPEAKER_00: the parties took Qatari money as unproven.
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  SPEAKER_00: The election committee has said the number of reported irregularities in
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  SPEAKER_00: a relatively calm vote was low.
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  SPEAKER_00: Small rallies for a Jewish-Arab coalition took place in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
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  SPEAKER_00: Translators note, the dispute has moved from who won to whether the Arab seats count.
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  SPEAKER_00: Likud's claim that the party stole the vote came after they won a record number of seats.
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  SPEAKER_00: It always seems to be that way.
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  SPEAKER_00: So did Ben Gvir's call for arrests.
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  SPEAKER_00: The election committee, meanwhile, reported few irregularities.
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  SPEAKER_00: The joint list answers that Arab turnout decided the result,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the rallies in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem argue for a government that includes them.
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  SPEAKER_00: Reporting outside of Israel carries Likud's claim and the committee's findings side by side.
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
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  SPEAKER_00: Israel's election still has no majority for Netanyahu or his rival,
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  SPEAKER_00: Eisenkot, with final results possibly due Thursday evening.
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  SPEAKER_00: Likud says Arab parties stole the vote,
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  SPEAKER_00: A cabinet minister has called for their leader's arrest,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the election committee says reported irregularities were low.
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  SPEAKER_00: The president begins talks on forming a new government next week.
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  SPEAKER_00: Five killed in Gaza strikes.
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  SPEAKER_00: Palestinian medical and local sources said Israeli strikes killed
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  SPEAKER_00: at least five people in Gaza on Wednesday.
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  SPEAKER_00: An Israeli drone fired a missile at a checkpoint run by the Hamas-run Crossings
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  SPEAKER_00: and Borders Authority in Mawasi in the south.
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  SPEAKER_00: The victims worked for the agriculture,
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  SPEAKER_00: economy, and general petroleum and gas authorities, according to local sources.
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  SPEAKER_00: Medical sources first reported three dead.
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  SPEAKER_00: One more died of wounds, bringing that strike's toll to four, with more than 30 wounded.
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  SPEAKER_00: Another person was killed in a strike on Khan Yunus.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Israeli military said it struck terrorists in the area.
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  SPEAKER_00: On Thursday,
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  SPEAKER_00: Ambulance and Emergency Services said an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle
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  SPEAKER_00: in Maghazi camp killed two people.
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  SPEAKER_00: Gaza's health authorities say 1,568 people have been killed and 5,649 wounded since
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  SPEAKER_00: the ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
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  SPEAKER_00: Their cumulative toll since October 7, 2023 stands at 74,564 killed, 175,770 wounded.
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  SPEAKER_00: In the West Bank,
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  SPEAKER_00: Israeli forces raided Hebron neighborhoods and surrounding towns on Wednesday as
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  SPEAKER_00: the city's lockdown entered a sixth day.
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  SPEAKER_00: It began after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint last week.
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  SPEAKER_00: UNRWA's Director for the West Bank,
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  SPEAKER_00: Roland Friedrich,
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  SPEAKER_00: said the lockdown has severely restricted residents' movement and access
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  SPEAKER_00: to services.
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  SPEAKER_00: The incursions have displaced nearly 5,000 Palestinians, according to reports.
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  SPEAKER_00: Palestinian officials have accused Netanyahu's government of using the operation
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  SPEAKER_00: to win settler votes before the election.
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
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  SPEAKER_00: Israeli strikes killed at least five people in Gaza on Wednesday and two more
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  SPEAKER_00: on Thursday, despite the October 2025 ceasefire.
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  SPEAKER_00: Gaza's health authorities have Count 1,568 killed since it began.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Hebron,
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  SPEAKER_00: in the West Bank,
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  SPEAKER_00: a lockdown is in its sixth day and nearly 5,000 people have been displaced,
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  SPEAKER_00: according to reports.
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  SPEAKER_00: The EU and Canada Drop Label A draft joint declaration seen before a Montreal summit
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  SPEAKER_00: that starts Thursday drops the idea of Canada becoming an associate EU member.
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  SPEAKER_00: It calls instead for an ever-closer association.
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  SPEAKER_00: Officials plan to publish it on Friday.
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  SPEAKER_00: It says work on defining the relationship will continue until another summit next year.
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  SPEAKER_00: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed associate membership six weeks ago.
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  SPEAKER_00: Diplomats said Germany led a group of EU countries
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  SPEAKER_00: that argued they could not sign up to a concept with no legal status
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  SPEAKER_00: that had not been fleshed out.
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  SPEAKER_00: Prime Minister Mark Carney said it does not matter what the relationship is called.
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  SPEAKER_00: Trump had called the idea laughable and said the US might stop trading with Europe
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  SPEAKER_00: on many things if he read it as a hostile act.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's so stupid.
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  SPEAKER_00: The draft commits both sides to a rules-based international order
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  SPEAKER_00: and says they deeply regret U.S. sanctions on the International Criminal Court.
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  SPEAKER_00: It commits Canada to making its AI and digital rules work alongside Europe's.
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  SPEAKER_00: It adds subsea cable links between Europe, Canada,
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  SPEAKER_00: and Asia,
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  SPEAKER_00: and a feasibility study on Canadian liquefied natural gas exports to Europe.
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  SPEAKER_00: Canada ships nearly 70% of its exports to the United States.
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  SPEAKER_00: The EU counts for about 9% of Canada's trade.
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  SPEAKER_00: The White House said U.S. and Canadian trade officials are talking.
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  SPEAKER_00: Translator's note.
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  SPEAKER_00: The label was dropped and the substance stayed.
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  SPEAKER_00: The text still regrets U.S.
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  SPEAKER_00: sanctions on the court and still aligns Canadian AI and digital rules with Europe's
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  SPEAKER_00: and still pledges joint economic security work.
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  SPEAKER_00: Barry Appleton,
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  SPEAKER_00: a trade lawyer,
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  SPEAKER_00: called the statement highly provocative toward Washington,
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  SPEAKER_00: even without the membership wording.
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  SPEAKER_00: The diplomats who removed the term gave a different reason, that it had no legal status.
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  SPEAKER_00: A former Canadian finance advisor, Julian Karagosian, called the summit a show.
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  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: A draft Canada-EU declaration drops a plan to make Canada an associate EU member,
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  SPEAKER_00: after Trump called it laughable.
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  SPEAKER_00: The text, due Friday, still commits to closer ties and to aligning AI and digital rules.
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  SPEAKER_00: It also regrets the U.S. sanctions on the International Criminal Court.
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  SPEAKER_00: Canada sends nearly 70% of its exports to the United States.
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  SPEAKER_00: For now.
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  SPEAKER_00: And finally, this fucking guy.
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  SPEAKER_00: Flavio Bolsonaro denied fleeing Brazil after landing in Miami and said he left for
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  SPEAKER_00: the sake of Brazil.
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  SPEAKER_00: The U.S.
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  SPEAKER_00: provided visas to him and his family after Brazil canceled his passports as part of
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  SPEAKER_00: a criminal investigation.
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  SPEAKER_00: Brazilian authorities canceled them when he missed a 24-hour deadline on Tuesday
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  SPEAKER_00: to surrender them.
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  SPEAKER_00: He denies wrongdoing.
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  SPEAKER_00: Trump told reporters, quote, we gave him a pass to come into the country, close quote.
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  SPEAKER_00: He declined to discuss Bolsonaro's fraud claims and said Bolsonaro
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  SPEAKER_00: and his family were treated very unfairly.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lula won the runoff by more than 4 million votes,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the result was confirmed by the electoral court's president,
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  SPEAKER_00: who was appointed by Flavio's father, Jair Bolsonaro.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's it for this edition of The Rest of the World Report.
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  SPEAKER_00: Before I go,
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  SPEAKER_00: if you hear a bunch of background noise,
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  SPEAKER_00: it's because today, it's another gorgeous day.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I just left everything open because the news sucks and this is depressing
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  SPEAKER_00: and it's at least pretty outside.
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  SPEAKER_00: So there you go.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sorry for the background noise.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you guys again tonight.
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  [music]