Israel and Hezbollah Trade Airstrikes, and U.S. Border Crossings Drop

from The New York Times it's the headlines I'm Tracy Mumford today's Monday August 26th here's what we're [Music] covering Israel and Hezbollah fired back and forth over the Israel Lebanon border this weekend in one of the biggest barges in months it was an exchange that many in the region have been holding their breath for 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 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 Israel says it struck preemptively to thwart a bigger attack and Hezbollah says it followed through on its promise of retaliation 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 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 the hope is that a deal there could bring down temperatures across the [Music] region 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 that leader is Yaya senoir 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 it's not an exaggeration that senoir is one of the most Wanted men on Earth right now Times Reporter Mark mazetti has been covering Israel's hunt for senoir which the US has been closely involved with for the Israelis and the United States it's frustrating because there are sort of episodic cases of getting close in the early months after October 7th sinir was using electric Communications that they were able to monitor at some points for example there was a raid on January 31st where Israeli Commandos went into a bunker that they believed senoir was in 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 but in more recent months he's basically gone totally Off the Grid he doesn't use electronic communications and he relies on this network of human couriers to to receive messages and to send messages and I think what's particularly interesting in this case is that this is not just some terrorist leader who can go off the grid and hide for months and years on end to evade capture this is someone who is not only running a war in Gaza but he's also Central to the ongoing negotiations and so he has to be actively engaged with his subordinates in order to carry on these many different roles [Music] it's widely believed senoir is still underground in tunnels beneath Gaza possibly surrounding himself with hostages for [Music] protection this summer at the US Mexico border the number of Crossings has plummeted July had the lowest number of illegal Crossings of President Biden's entire term there's a lot of factors at play including that Mexico has ramped up enforcement and stopped more migrants in route to The Border 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 US border agents no longer have to ask migrants whether they fear for their lives if they return home times immigration reporter hammed Ali aiz says this is a major shift before when migrants would cross illegally they would be asked whether or not they fear return to their home country whether they wanted asylum in the United States migrants often would answer yes 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 and Immigration Court some officials believed that these questions were leading and that they were leading to affirmative answers and that now migrants you know they'll still have the chance to seek asylum in the protection in the United States but they'll have to voice it 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 ultimately it's going to be on the migrant themselves to know when and how to to seek Asylum and how to Kickstart the process since June Asylum claims have dropped by half and the majority of migrants are now quickly turned back from the border the Biden Administration says that's easy the pressure on the country's overburdened immigration system 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 they say the new policy is unfair to people in Desperate situations who don't know how to ask for help when they [Music] cross the founder of one of the biggest messaging apps in the world telegram was arrested in France over the weekend paval durov a Russian entrepreneur is facing charges related to the spread of illicit material on the app according to French media telegram has over 900 million users worldwide and durov has portrayed himself as a free speech Crusader he designed the app to be a secretive and uncensored way to communicate that's allowed people living under authoritarian regimes for example to connect and organize but it's also made telegram a Haven for disinformation and terrorist propaganda 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 French authorities haven't gone into detail about what durov is charged with 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 in a statement telegram says it abides by EU laws and that durov has nothing to hide fans of the app and durov's allies have denounced his arrest his former press secretary said it was a quote monstrous attack on freedom of speech [Music] worldwide and finally in less than 24 hours at the Kennedy Space Center the Polaris Dawn mission is expected to lift off 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 and everyone on board is a private astronaut there's no one from a National Space Agency the billionaire Jared isaacman is leading the Polaris Dawn team he partnered with SpaceX for the mission which will carry out dozens of scientific experiments in orbit isan's been in space before 3 years ago he was on board the first space craft to orbit the earth without a professional astronaut this Mission will be longer and riskier 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 3 months if everything goes to plan the mission will also include the first ever Space Walk by a private crew the plan is to have everyone on board gear up in their space space suits next they will let all of the air out of the ship literally making the cabin part of the vacuum of outer space then two members of the team will head outside the craft Tethered to move around the entire Polaris Dawn mission is scheduled to last 5 days but trips to space can get complicated 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 in space until they can be brought home next [Music] year those are the headlines today on The Daily a look at the dueling economic plans that Donald Trump and kamla Harris are pitching to voters you can listen on the times audio app or wherever you get your podcasts I'm Tracy Mumford we'll be back tomorrow [Music]