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Today's top stories
President Trump will host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) at the White House today. It's his first visit since the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, which led to global condemnation.
- 🎧 The two leaders have business and security deals to announce, NPR's Aya Batrawy tells Up First. The defense pact would give Saudi Arabia guarantees that the U.S. would use military measures if necessary. MBS also wants advanced F-35 jets that currently only Israel flies in the Middle East. The Saudis are also seeking U.S. civilian nuclear technology and advanced AI chips, and in exchange, the crown prince says he is prepared to invest $600 billion in the U.S.
The U.N. Security Council yesterday adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza and authorizing an international stabilization force for the territory.
- 🎧 The Security Council resolution only alludes to a possible pathway to Palestinian statehood, Michele Kelemen reports. Russia's Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya, who abstained in the vote, emphasized that the resolution shouldn't serve as a cover for the U.S. and Israel in controlling Gaza, or signal the end of a two-state solution.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a measure to release documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. If it passes, it will then be sent to the Senate. Trump informed reporters yesterday that the Senate could take up the bill and he would sign it if it passes. The measure would compel the Justice Department to release all of its files on Epstein within 30 days.
- 🎧 NPR's Barbara Sprunt says an interesting element to this process is that Trump has the authority to direct the Justice Department to release documents. The president has done this in other cases with documents such as investigations into the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr.
In a Louisiana redistricting case, the Supreme Court's conservative majority seemed inclined to weaken Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in an October rehearing. Section 2 protects against racial discrimination in the political mapmaking process. Depending on the timing, a ruling of this stature could allow states to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, particularly in Republican-led southern states, potentially diluting Black voters' chances to elect preferred candidates, usually Democrats. Here's a deeper look into why this ruling is significant.
Deep dive
In a deserted part of downtown Los Angeles, guerrilla gardener Doug Rosenberg installed a pop up wetland in an effort to reclaim underused public spaces. He did this in a waterway that was converted into a giant storm drain nearly a century ago to contain floodwaters. By rearranging rocks into loose circles, he helped grow a 10-by-20-foot green island over 10 weeks. He's part of a movement of guerrilla gardeners reshaping neglected urban spaces:
- 🌱 The federal government considers the flood control channel Rosenberg worked on as "navigable water," protected under the Clean Water Act, making unauthorized changes illegal.
- 🌱 Despite that, gardeners say they are trying to grow healthy produce in urban food deserts, capture greenhouse gases and beautify their neighborhoods.
- 🌱 Officials warn that planting in unauthorized spaces can harm water quality, habitat, and safety downstream.
Living better
Living Better is a special series about what it takes to stay healthy in America.
More people in their 20s are getting preventive Botox — known as "baby Botox," lower-dose treatments administered around once or twice a year, which is less than those for midlife adults. The small doses block nerve signals to the muscle. Here's what's behind the trend:
- 💉 Pandemic-era screen time meant that people were doing more self-comparisons and looking at curated images of other people on video calls and social media.
- 💉 Celebrities and influencers promote cosmetic procedures, further normalizing the treatments.
- 💉 "Ageless" beauty is seen as a "status symbol" in today's society. Young women say the treatments show that they were able to invest in themselves at a very early age.
- 💉 The treatments can be addictive due to the fact that once you stop getting the injections, the effects wear off and wrinkles reappear.
3 things to know before you go
- When Lavonne Schaafsma lost her purse in Chicago, she retraced her steps and went to a gift shop. The cashier shared an incredible story of two women, her unsung heroes, who got her purse back from a man rifling through it.
- Leaders of the Society for Neuroscience warn that disruptions in federal funding are driving young scientists away from their field, threatening advancements in treating disorders such as Alzheimer's, autism, Parkinson's, and schizophrenia.
- Some female ants practice a form of chemical warfare that allows them to infiltrate established colonies of other ant species and manipulate the worker ants into killing their own queen, according to a new report in the journal Current Biology.
This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.
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