Trump on Ukraine war:

We're getting closer to settling Putin's war with Ukraine, maybe now.

The closest we've been.

Trump:

We gave nothing in exchange, which is very rare.

We never give anything in exchange.

Q: Witkoff called Putin a humanitarian.

Trump: I guess you could say that for the purpose of allowing a man who was thinking he was gonna be in prison for life out.

BIG: The United States has ordered embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, while families of U.S. embassy personnel in the UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain have also been ordered to depart, a diplomatic source told AFP.

U.S. State Department corrects reports:

Only non-emergency U.S. personnel and their families in Saudi Arabia have been ordered to leave, citing growing Houthi threats to civilian infrastructure.

Italy is investigating whether Russian agents helped fuel violent cost-of-living protests in Milan and other European cities.

Officials suspect possible foreign coordination due to the scale and organization of the unrest, though no evidence has been confirmed.

Source: Bloomberg

Reporter: How was waiving those sanctions on Russia to secure the release of the hostage not giving something to Russia?

Trump: Are you a stupid person? Who do you work for?

Reporter: ABC News.

Trump: You're a stupid person.

Trump on Ukraine:

We're "maybe close" to a deal for the first time in a long time.

When you're close to a deal and in very delicate negotiations, you don't put sanctions on.

Trump to a reporter:

You don't know what you're talking about. You're dumb. You're a low IQ person, and you work for CNN.

Q: Do you regret going to war with Iran?

Trump: I think it's one of the greatest things we've done.

Reporter: Who ordered Starlink limitations for Ukraine?

Trump: I wasn't involved.

Reporter: Did Elon Musk order it?

Trump: I don't know who did it, but I wasn't involved.

Senate Republicans are increasingly worried about Mississippi, a state that hasn't elected a Democratic senator in 44 years.

GOP leaders are considering emergency spending to protect Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith as Democrat Scott Colom mounts a surprisingly competitive challenge.

Source: Axios

Thousands of students and teachers protested across Greece, demanding more education funding, better schools, higher pay, and affordable housing.

Around 10,000 people marched in Athens.

A senior Iranian security official told Fars News that Tehran expects another U.S.-Israeli attack and considers Washington’s diplomatic efforts insincere.

The official warned that any renewed large-scale conflict involving assassinations of Iranian officials or civilian killings would lead Iran to consider U.S. political targets and the infrastructure of countries involved in the war legitimate targets.

Source: Fars News

Abdul El-Sayed on Syria:

We need to make sure that there are no sanctions, that people in Syria can build out their future as any and all people deserve, that they can do that together in peace, and then even join the community of nations.

I want to make sure that any of the barriers to progress because of the last regime are taken out, so that this leadership has the opportunity to build out democratic institutions without the interference of people like Israel and other countries in the region, and to make sure that they have the best shot at peace, prosperity, and freedom.

The U.S. is quietly withdrawing troops from bases in Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait while reducing diplomatic staff across the Middle East amid threats from Iran.

Source: NBC News

Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said young people feel “no one is listening to them,” linking recent youth riots in Paris, Milan and other European cities to frustration about their future.

Speaking to Bloomberg, the former European Central Bank chief called it “a case of blocked expectations.”

He said that for the young, social justice means fairness between generations, which is hard to maintain without economic growth.

He said many feel they can’t easily find a job.

He added that they see society changing fast through technology and “feel unequipped to deal with that.”

BIG: Websites around the world were taken offline after two critical security flaws were found in PHP, a programming language that powers much of the internet.

A fix was released on Wednesday afternoon.

Cybersecurity agencies urged organizations that couldn’t update in time to take their sites down.

Finland shut down its government’s public web services, and Dutch agencies and the lower house of parliament also went offline.

Wikimedia took some systems down, cutting access to parts of Wikipedia.

The flaws were found with the help of AI, through an OpenAI program called Patch the Planet.

Security firm Wiz called them the “most severe vulnerabilities ever discovered” by AI.

The bugs had gone undetected for more than a decade.

Details leaked on social media on Tuesday, forcing an early announcement.

The White House called the discovery “American innovation strengthening our national security.”

Hillary Clinton:

Fast forward ten years, we are seeing in real time everything that I warned about and everything that evidence proved, which is that Trump is more devoted to Putin than he is to freedom, democracy, and frankly, America's national security.

Hillary Clinton:

It is truly unbelievable that we have a president who wants to be an authoritarian dictator with all of the unchecked power that suggests.