Here’s a rundown of all the news you need to start your Thursday, including US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arriving in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli security cabinet ordering military to preparing for possible attack on Iran, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan highlighting importance of cleaner and more sustainable world for future generations during COP31.
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian media reported.
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev met the two American representatives at Vnukovo Airport, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Russia's state-run TASS news agency also confirmed that the convoy carrying Dmitriev, Witkoff, and Kushner left the airport following their landing in the Russian capital.
Kushner said Wednesday he and Witkoff will travel to Moscow following US-mediated trilateral peace negotiations with Russian and Ukrainian delegations.
“One of the positives is we agreed that we’re going to have the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners, and we’re going to finalize the numbers tomorrow,” Kushner said.
Israel’s security cabinet has instructed the military to step up preparations for a possible attack on Iran, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported Wednesday evening.
“The directives issued by the security cabinet to the Israeli military could lead it to carry out activities that could trigger a war,” the broadcaster said.
KAN said the directives were made public after Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot issued a statement urging caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from unnecessary military operations until the next government is formed.
The security cabinet last met on Oct. 5 – weeks before the Oct. 27 Israeli elections – the broadcaster added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan highlighted on Wednesday the importance of leaving a cleaner and more sustainable world for future generations during COP31, the UN Climate Change Conference in Türkiye.
"The most precious legacy we can leave to future generations, before the world becomes uninhabitable, will be a cleaner, greener and fairer world," Erdogan said in a social media post.
"As Türkiye, we are paving the way today and setting a very meaningful goal," he added.
The post included a video featuring footage from COP31. Erdogan also signed the commemorative board bearing the COP31 logo during the COP31 Leaders' Summit at the Antalya EXPO Center, as he continued his engagements at the meeting.
Formula One’s season-ending races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will proceed as scheduled despite tensions in the Middle East, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said Tuesday.
The Qatar Grand Prix is scheduled for Nov. 29 at Lusail International Circuit, followed by the Abu Dhabi finale at Yas Marina Circuit on Dec. 6.
“We are ready for Qatar and Abu Dhabi,” Ben Sulayem wrote on Instagram.
“We are fully prepared and committed to delivering two outstanding grands prix weekends and a spectacular conclusion to the Formula One World Championship.”
The Turkish women's national basketball team defeated Montenegro 79-62 in their opening Group I match of the second round of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2027 Qualifiers.
Türkiye secured victory in their first game under new head coach Frederic Dusart at the Turkcell Basketball Development Centre in Istanbul.
Montenegro started strong, but Türkiye responded with six consecutive points from Goksen Fitik to take an 11-8 lead.
Despite eight first-quarter points from Montenegro's Taya Davis-Reimer, the hosts maintained their advantage and finished the opening period 18-14 ahead.
British Albanian pop star Dua Lipa, American singer SZA and Australian music group Tame Impala will headline the 2027 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, organizers announced.
The annual festival, one of the world's best-known music events, will take place over two weekends, April 9-11 and April 16-18, in Indio, California.
Lipa will headline Friday performances, followed by Tame Impala on Saturdays and SZA on Sundays.
The 31-year-old Grammy-winning singer is set to make history as the first British woman to headline the festival as a solo artist.
American actor Stacy Keach, whose career ranged from Shakespearean leading roles to television detective Mike Hammer, has died at the age of 85.
Keach died Tuesday at his family home in Magdalenka, Poland, his wife, Malgosia Tomassi Keach, said in a statement carried by People magazine.
His death followed “a long and difficult battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure,” she said.
The actor built a career across theater, film and television, combining acclaimed stage performances with roles in crime dramas, comedies and historical productions.
Nvidia’s board is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang following reports of two extramarital affairs, one involving a woman suspected of ties to Chinese intelligence, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The board could meet as early as Wednesday to decide Huang’s future at the company, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
Earlier Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Huang had an affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, citing five people who worked at the company.
The reports came days after Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife. Nvidia’s board is investigating whether he was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation.
Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court fined Meta 7.5 million reais ($1.34 million) for providing incomplete information in response to judicial orders concerning allegations of political bias on its platforms during the election campaign, Agencia Brasil reported.
The unanimous decision, delivered Tuesday, found that the company failed to adequately address 17 measures the court ordered to clarify claims that its platforms treated content from rival presidential campaigns unequally.
The case followed a complaint by the coalition supporting President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s reelection, which accused Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, of restricting the reach of pro-Lula content while favoring his defeated rival, Flavio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a classified payload for the US Space Force from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday.
The rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East as part of the USSF-627 mission, whose payload and specific objectives have not been publicly disclosed.
The launch followed two postponements. Originally scheduled for Monday, the mission was delayed to Tuesday before being rescheduled for Wednesday.
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