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With both sides in the Russia-Ukraine war preparing for further fighting, Ukraine was test-launching a new long-range cruise missile, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine’s president announced the huge missile, known as Flamingo, could strike targets as far as 3,000km (1,864 miles) away. “The missile has undergone successful tests. It is currently our most successful missile,” Zelenskyy told reporters. Mass production could begin by February, he added.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that large Russian attacks in various parts of Ukraine showed Moscow was avoiding negotiations about ending the more than three-year-old war. The latest offensive included 574 drones and 40 missiles, said Ukraine’s president, and was one of the largest yet.

A missile strike on the US-owned electronics firm Flex in Ukraine’s far-west Zakarpattia region was a “telling” indicator of Russian intentions in peace initiatives led by Donald Trump, Zelenskyy said. “Now the signals from Russia are simply, to be honest, indecent. They are trying to back away from the need to hold meetings. They don’t want to end the war. They carry on with massive strikes.”

“We believe [the Flex attack] was a deliberate strike precisely on US property here in Ukraine, on American investment,” Zelenskyy said. “A very telling strike … at the very time when the world waits for a clear answer from the Russians on their move in talks to bring an end to the war.” Nineteen people were injured in the attack. Zelenskyy said both sides were preparing for further fighting, citing Russian troop build-ups and Ukraine’s own preparations including the Flamingo missile rollout.

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The Trump administration is reviewing the records of more than 55 million US visa holders for potential revocation or deportable violations of immigration rules, in a significant expansion of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The state department said that all of the foreigners who now hold valid US visas are subject to “continuous vetting” for any indication that they could be ineligible for the document, including those already admitted into the country. Should such evidence come to light, the visa would be revoked and, if the visa holder were in the United States, they would be subject to deportation.

Here are the key stories at a glance.

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A federal judge on Thursday barred the DeSantis and Trump administrations from bringing new detainees to the detention facility called Alligator Alcatraz and ordered the state begin closing operations at the immigration detention site within 60 days.

In her order, US district judge Kathleen Williams barred the state and federal governments from bringing new detainees to the detention center and stopped any expansion of the facility, including new lighting or any new buildings, including tents.

As the Miami Herald reports, the temporary injunction comes in response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe in which they argue that the state and federal governments cut corners when erecting the site in a matter of days.

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The Trump administration can slash hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of research funding in its push to cut federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the Supreme Court decided Thursday.

The high court majority lifted a judge’s order blocking $783 million worth of cuts made by the National Institutes of Health to align with Republican President Donald Trump’s priorities. The high court did keep Trump administration guidance on future funding blocked, however.

The court split 5-4 on the decision. Chief Justice John Roberts was along those who would have kept the cuts blocked, along with the court’s three liberals.

A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Alina Habba, has been unlawhttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/alina-habba-trump-us-attorney_n_68a77802e4b00911ce446b6cfully serving as the the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.

The court, saying the administration used “a novel series of legal and personnel moves,” held that Habba’s term as the interim U.S. attorney ended in July, and the Trump administration’s maneuvers to keep her in the role without getting confirmation from the U.S. Senate didn’t follow procedures required by federal law.

“Faced with the question of whether Ms. Habba is lawfully performing the functions and duties of the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, I conclude that she is not,” Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann wrote.

The opinion says that Habba’s actions since July “may be declared void.”

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The $454 million penalty imposed against President Donald Trump in his New York civil fraud case has been thrown out by an appeals court.

Trump and some of his entities were hit with that hefty penalty, plus interest, in February 2024, after New York trial Judge Arthur Engoron concluded that Trump had inflated the value of his assets for years to get better loan and insurance terms. Engoron also imposed about $10 million in separate penalties against Trump's eldest sons, Eric and Don Jr., and former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg.

However, in an Aug. 21 ruling that included multiple opinions from different members of a five-judge panel, the Manhattan-based appeals court determined the penalties for Trump and the others were improper. Some members of the panel said that the penalty violated the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on excessive fines. Others said Trump should be afforded a new trial due to errors in the trial judge's determinations.

The ruling marks another major personal legal victory for Trump, who has also seen multiple criminal cases against him crumble following his November presidential election victory. Trump's appeal against his conviction in his New York criminal case dealing with payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels is ongoing.

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The Israeli military says it has begun the "preliminary actions" of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City and already has a hold on its outskirts.

A military spokesman said troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas to lay the groundwork for the offensive, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and which will be put to the security cabinet later this week.

About 60,000 reservists are being called up for the beginning of September to free up active-duty personnel for the operation.

Hamas has accused Israel of obstructing a ceasefire deal in favour of continuing a "brutal war against innocent civilians", Reuters news agency reported.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are expected to be ordered to evacuate and head to shelters in southern Gaza as preparations for Israel's takeover plan get under way.

Many of Israel's allies have condemned its plan, with French President Emmanuel Macron warning on Wednesday that it "can only lead to disaster for both peoples and risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war".

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Soon, the Palestinian people will be recognized as a sovereign nation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by most countries. They now have the political and moral momentum toward achieving this goal. 

The world owes Palestinians independence and sovereignty for the same reasons it granted the Jews living in British Mandatory Palestine their independent state in 1948, only a few years after six million Jews had been gassed to death in German concentration camps.

This will happen despite an expected U.S. veto next month in the United Nations, and in spite of the political alliance between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump is pragmatic; he will come to support the creation of a Palestinian state, as most Americans already do.

This is because the case for Palestinian independence has been getting clearer and more urgent with every Israeli bombing of mostly innocent Gazans, and with every death from starvation caused by Israel’s withholding of food.

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