Today's INTERNATIONAL story

UN votes to end Lebanon peacekeeping mission

What happened
The United Nations Security Council yesterday voted unanimously to wind down its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon by the end of 2026, after nearly five decades of operation. The mandate for the U.N.'s Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), renewed annually since 1978, had been set to expire on Sunday.

Who said what
UNIFIL, "initially created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops" after Israel's 1978 invasion, has "played a significant role in monitoring the security situation" in southern Lebanon for decades, said The Associated Press. It has also "drawn criticism from both sides" and from the Trump administration, which views UNIFIL as a "waste of money." Israel considers the U.N. force "toothless," The New York Times said, while Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group that has "long dominated" southern Lebanon, sees UNIFIL "as sympathetic to Israel."

The Trump administration had "pushed for an end to UNIFIL since taking office in January and has already overseen cuts in U.S. funding to the force," Al Jazeera said. But Lebanon and European governments pushed back against a quick dissolution, arguing that Lebanon's military is not yet ready to take over the area, giving Hezbollah a window to regroup from last year's drubbing by Israel.

What next?
In January 2027, UNIFIL will begin a yearlong "orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal" of its 10,800 personnel and equipment from Lebanon, the U.N. said. The goal is to leave "Lebanon fully in charge of southern security."

Today's Russia-Ukraine Story

Russian strike on Kyiv kills 23, hits EU offices

What happened
Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine yesterday, killing at least 23 people in Kyiv and damaging the European Union's diplomatic office and the nearby British Council office, along with scores of other civilian buildings. Ukraine said it shot down most of the 598 attack drones and 31 missiles Russia fired across the country over 11 hours starting at about 3 a.m. But among the damage was a five-story residential building reduced to rubble. "As of 11 p.m. rescue efforts were still underway," Reuters said.

Who said what
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strike, the second-largest since Russia invaded in 2022 and the deadliest since President Donald Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin to jump-start peace talks, showed that Moscow is choosing "ballistics instead of the negotiating table." It was the "clearest signal" since the summit that Putin planned to "eschew Trump's peace efforts" while "also striking a blow to the Western institutions supporting Kyiv," The Wall Street Journal said.

Trump "was not particularly perturbed" by "Putin's overnight bombardment," Politico said. He "was not happy about this move, but he was also not surprised," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, equating Russia's "attack on Kyiv," with Ukraine's recent "blow to Russia's oil refineries."

What next?
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was preparing a 19th sanctions package to force Putin "to the negotiating table," and vowed that European security guarantees would "turn Ukraine into a steel porcupine."

It's not all bad

A blood test used alongside a trained algorithm could eventually help diagnose ovarian cancer, a disease hard to detect in its early stages due to generalized symptoms like abdominal bloating and pain. The test, developed by AOA Dx, looks for certain lipids and proteins in the bloodstream whose combination is "like a biological fingerprint for ovarian cancer," said The Guardian. In a University of Colorado study, the test was 93% accurate across all stages of ovarian cancer and 91% accurate in early stages.

Under the radar

Scientists are accelerating evolution

Researchers at Scripps Research Institute have created a new system, T7-ORACLE, that can speed up evolution by 100,000 years, according to a study published in the journal Science. This "directed evolution" is the "process of rapidly evolving proteins, introducing beneficial mutations and selecting advantageous variants," said Popular Mechanics. The "hyper-evolved proteins" can then be used in a "wide variety of potential cancer and neurodegenerative therapies."

Previous systems of directed evolution often required "repeated rounds of DNA manipulation and testing, with each round taking a week or more," Scripps said in a press release. However, T7-ORACLE circumvents these challenges by using an engineered E. coli bacterium to host a "second artificial DNA replication system." Essentially, this method operates "separately from the cell's own machinery" and allows its original genome to remain untouched. In turn, scientists can "introduce mutations every time the cell divides (roughly every 20 minutes)."

Directed evolution is not entirely new. In 2018, Frances Arnold won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on it. Using Arnold's approach, scientists were able to "'breed' biomolecules, not unlike how farmers breed crops and animals," said Caltech Magazine.

There are many promising applications for the new technology. It could be an "important tool for developing new medicines," or "give scientists a better understanding of how antibiotic resistance builds up over time," said Popular Mechanics. Protein evolution can also be used for diagnostic purposes and even to switch diseases off.

On this day

August 29, 2008

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate on the Republican presidential ticket, making her the first female GOP vice presidential nominee. Palin was not the first woman to be nominated, however. That distinction goes to Geraldine Ferraro, Democrat Walter Mondale's running mate in 1984. The first woman vice president was Kamala Harris.

TODAY'S newspaperS

'Uprising at CDC'

"Standoff at CDC stokes confusion," the Chicago Tribune says on Friday's front page. "CDC reeling as acting director selected," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. "CDC chaos under RFK Jr. raises fears about guarding nation's health," The Minnesota Star Tribune says. "Uprising at CDC exposes rifts in president's MAHA alliance," says The Wall Street Journal. "U.S. is taking a hard look at transplants," The New York Times says. "Fed's Cook files lawsuit to challenge her ouster," The Washington Post says. "AI hitting Gen Z's workers already," says the San Francisco Chronicle.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Put him in, coach

Topps' latest collectible baseball card features not a player but a squirrel that crashed a New York Yankees game. The squirrel ran onto the Yankee Stadium field during the fourth inning and stared down pitcher Max Fried. "My first reaction was, 'Don't do anything that might embarrass you,'" Fried told MLB.com. The game, against the Boston Red Sox, was paused until the squirrel scurried away and disappeared near the scoreboard area.

Morning Report was written and edited by Helen Brown, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.