--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, August 26th. Here's what we're covering.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Israel and Hezbollah fired back and forth over the Israel-Lebanon border this weekend, in one of the biggest barrages in months. It was an exchange that many in the region have been holding their breath for.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Israel and Hezbollah have been locked in a waiting game since last month, when Israel killed one of the militant group's top commanders in Beirut, and Hezbollah vowed to retaliate.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: For now, the exchange has not risen to the level of major escalation that many had feared. Lebanon reported three deaths. Israel won. Both sides called their operations a success.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Israel says it struck preemptively to thwart a bigger attack, and Hezbollah says it followed through on its promise of retaliation.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The attacks underscore how tensions over the war in Gaza continue to consume the wider region. Hezbollah has been firing on Israel since October in solidarity with Hamas, and Israel's still braced for retaliation from Iran for the assassination of a Hamas leader in the country's capital.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The strikes on Sunday also raised the stakes for the ceasefire negotiators currently gathered in Cairo, trying to broker a deal to end the war in Gaza.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The hope is that a deal there could bring down temperatures across the region.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Meanwhile, diplomats involved in the ceasefire negotiations say Hamas insists they need the input of their political leader before they can make any major decisions in the talks.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That leader is Yahya Sinwar, who has been commanding the group from inside Gaza. He's both a crucial figure in their decision-making and a top military target for Israel.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It's not an exaggeration that Sinwar is one of the most wanted men on Earth right now.
--:-- Mark Mazzetti: Times reporter Mark Mazzetti has been covering Israel's hunt for Sinwar, which the U.S. has been closely involved with.
--:-- Mark Mazzetti: For the Israelis and the United States, it's frustrating because there are sort of episodic cases of getting close.
--:-- Mark Mazzetti: In the early months after October 7th, Sinwar was using electronic communications that they were able to monitor at some points.
--:-- Mark Mazzetti: For example, there was a raid on January 31st where Israeli commandos went into a bunker that they believed Sinwar was in.
--:-- Mark Mazzetti: It turns out he had been there, but he had left days earlier, possibly because he had been tipped that the Israelis knew of his location.
--:-- Mark Mazzetti: But in more recent months, he's basically gone totally off the grid.
--:-- Mark Mazzetti: He doesn't use electronic communications, and he relies on this network of human couriers to receive messages and to send messages.
--:-- Mark Mazzetti: Officials said that the best guess is that he is still somewhere underneath Gaza in this network of tunnels and they assume and believe that he does surround himself with hostages as a sort of way of protecting himself.
--:-- Mark Mazzetti: And at least for the Israelis, him being out there has to deprive the Israeli government of this sort of potential signature military victory of sorts if they were to catch him.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: This summer at the U.S.-Mexico border, the number of crossings has plummeted.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: July had the lowest number of illegal crossings of President Biden's entire term.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: There's a lot of factors at play, including that Mexico has ramped up enforcement and stopped more migrants en route to the border.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: But an executive order that Biden signed earlier this summer that restricts asylum also appears to be driving the drop, specifically one procedural change from that order.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: U.S. border agents no longer have to ask migrants whether they fear for their lives if they return home.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: Before, when migrants would cross illegally, they would be asked whether or not they fear return to their home country.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: Whether they wanted asylum in the United States, migrants often would answer yes.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: And this would kickstart a process that could ultimately allow migrants to stay in the country for years waiting for their immigration court hearings, waiting for the chance to seek asylum in immigration court.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: Some officials believed that these questions were leading and that they were leading to affirmative answers.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: And now, migrants, you know, they'll still have the chance to seek asylum and the protection of the United States, but they'll have to voice it.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: They'll have to make an affirmative request. They'll have to go to the border agent and say they want asylum, that they're fearful of return.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: Ultimately, it's going to be on the migrant themselves to know when and how to seek asylum and how to kickstart the process.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: Since June, asylum claims have dropped by half, and the majority of migrants are now quickly turned back from the border.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: The Biden administration says that's easing the pressure on the country's overburdened immigration system.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: But migrant advocates say the policy change is weeding out too many people, including those who should be allowed to have their asylum cases heard.
--:-- Hamid Ali Aziz: They say the new policy is unfair to people in desperate situations who don't know how to ask for help when they cross.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The founder of one of the biggest messaging apps in the world, Telegram, was arrested in France over the weekend.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Pavel Durov, a Russian entrepreneur, is facing charges related to the spread of illicit material on the app, according to French media.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Telegram has over 900 million users worldwide, and Durov has portrayed himself as a free speech crusader.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: He designed the app to be a secretive and uncensored way to communicate.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That's allowed people living under authoritarian regimes, for example, to connect and organize.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But it's also made Telegram a haven for disinformation and terrorist propaganda.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And it's long been on the radar of law enforcement because the app's been used for selling weapons and recruiting members of extremist groups.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: French authorities haven't gone into detail about what Durov is charged with.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But the arrest comes as governments, particularly in Europe, have intensified pressure on social media companies to address extremism and the spread of illicit material.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In a statement, Telegram says it abides by EU laws and that Durov has nothing to hide.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Fans of the app and Durov's allies have denounced his arrest.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: His former press secretary said it was a, quote, "Political persecution."
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally, in less than 24 hours at the Kennedy Space Center, the Polaris Dawn mission is scheduled to lift off.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: A spacecraft carrying four crew members is set to travel farther from Earth than anyone has gone since the Apollo moon missions more than 50 years ago.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Notably, everyone on board is a private astronaut.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: There's no one from a national space agency.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The billionaire Jared Isaacman is leading the Polaris Dawn team.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: He partnered with SpaceX for the mission, which will carry out dozens of scientific experiments in orbit.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Isaacman's been in space before.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Three years ago, he was on board the first spacecraft to orbit the Earth without a professional astronaut.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This mission will be longer and riskier.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The ship will be vulnerable to space rocks and debris that could puncture the craft, and it will pass through areas of intense radiation, getting as much exposure in a few hours as the International Space Station does in three months.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The entire mission is scheduled to last five days, but trips to space can get complicated.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: NASA just officially confirmed this weekend that the astronauts it sent up in June as a test of the Boeing Starliner, will now be staying up in space until they can be brought home next year.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Today on The Daily, a look at the dueling economic plans that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are pitching to voters.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: You can listen on The Times audio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow. Thank you.
