“Tactical” pauses in Gaza. The Israeli military announced a start to daily ten-hour pauses in fighting in three population centers in Gaza to allow in more aid trucks. Israel has also increased permissions for aid airdrops and restarted the power to a water desalination plant. Humanitarian groups welcomed the permissions but said they were still not enough to address rising hunger in the enclave. Gaza’s health ministry said today that fourteen people died of malnutrition over the previous twenty-four hours.
Cambodia-Thailand truce. Leaders from the two countries agreed to halt hostilities across their border, according to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who met with both sides in his capacity as the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The truce is due to begin at midnight local time today. It comes after at least thirty-five people have been killed in nearly a week of fighting along the border.
Trump’s threat to Russia. Trump told reporters today that he is “disappointed” in Russian President Vladimir Putin over the status of the war in Ukraine and that he would reduce a fifty-day deadline he gave Putin to reach a truce. Trump said on July 14 that he would impose “severe” tariffs on Russia’s trade partners if no peace deal was reached in fifty days. While Russia and Ukraine held bilateral talks last week, they did not yield immediate breakthroughs.
Sudan’s shadow government. The paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting the Sudanese army in the country’s civil war since April 2023, announced the composition of a self-declared rival government on Saturday. The step spurred fears of a lasting territorial split in the country. RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo is its president and Mohamed Hassan al-Taishi, a politician who served in Sudan’s transitional government prior to a 2021 military coup, is its prime minister. Regions including Darfur now have two rival governors.
China’s AI plan. Beijing on Saturday released an action plan for artificial intelligence (AI) following Washington’s release of its own plan last week. China said it aimed to encourage international cooperation on the regulation and development of AI, whereas the U.S. plan calls for blocking adversarial technologies out of its AI supply chains. Beijing debuted its plan at a Shanghai conference where two groups of Chinese AI companies also announced industry alliances to boost China’s AI ecosystem and reduce dependence on foreign technologies.
Syria plans elections. Syria’s interim government plans to hold parliamentary elections between September 15–20, the head of the electoral body told state media. They would be the first elections held since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad in December. One-third of legislators are due to be appointed by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and the other two-thirds elected. They will serve in an interim parliament until general elections at a future date.
Taiwan’s recall vote. An effort to recall twenty-four politicians from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party failed on Saturday. It was Taiwan’s largest such recall vote. The Democratic Progressive Party, which holds Taiwan’s presidency, holds only a parliamentary minority. It has accused KMT members of being too friendly to Beijing.
UN warning on refugees. Funding cuts to the UN refugee agency are already increasing migration to Europe, the agency’s head Filippo Grandi told the Financial Times. The Trump administration slashed its support for the agency this year by over $1.6 billion. With many African migrants moving toward Europe, Grandi urged donor countries to give money to countries already hosting large numbers of refugees such as Chad, Kenya, and Iran.
