The briefing for Saturday, August 1.

Hamas announced Friday it will begin disarming under a plan unveiled by President Trump, marking the first time the militant group has agreed to lay down its weapons. The roadmap calls for Hamas to hand over police weapons to a Palestinian technocratic committee, with heavy weapons to be inventoried and stored as Israel gradually withdraws from Gaza. The process would be overseen by an International Stabilization Force, with implementation contingent on verified Israeli compliance with ceasefire terms.

Israel has not officially commented on the deal, and expectations for implementation remain low. Hamas made its agreement conditional on the creation of a Palestinian state and Israel ending all strikes and withdrawing forces—something Prime Minister Netanyahu's government adamantly opposes. The BBC reports Netanyahu faces political pressure ahead of October elections, with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir calling the plan "not acceptable." Implementation timelines call for developing detailed schedules within 14 days, though progress could be extended by an International Verification Committee.

The agreement represents a potential breakthrough in ending the Gaza war that has killed over 70,000 Palestinians according to Hamas-run health authorities. However, the deal faces significant hurdles including zero trust between parties, Netanyahu's reelection battle, and Hamas's identity as an armed resistance movement. According to the AP, Israeli officials insist there will be no withdrawal from the 60% of Gaza they currently control until Hamas fully disarms. The proposal also calls for Hamas to hand over governance to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, though that body has not yet entered the territory.

The White House signaled Friday that President Trump is weighing new military strikes on Iran after the collapse of last month's truce agreement. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran "broke" the memorandum of understanding, "shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers," adding that "Iran will continue to pay until they come to the table in, what President Trump deems, a meaningful way." Trump told reporters at Camp David the U.S. will hit Iran "very hard" until "they can't take it anymore."

Hours after Trump's comments, Kuwait reported responding to new drone attacks from Iran targeting vital facilities, while the British Navy said a tanker was struck in the Strait of Hormuz and another vessel reported an explosion nearby Friday and Saturday. According to ABC News, no casualties were reported in the attacks. Iran has repeatedly targeted vessels attempting to transit the strategic waterway without authorization as part of its ongoing conflict with the U.S., which has been pressing for Tehran to reopen the strait.

The escalation comes amid broader Middle East tensions, including intense Israeli strikes on Gaza following Hamas's disarmament announcement. The strikes killed at least two people and injured dozens more Friday night, according to local health officials. Israeli forces also set off explosions in southern Lebanon to destroy underground infrastructure. Meanwhile, Houthi rebels forced eight Saudi ships to reroute from the Bab el-Mandeb strait after announcing a blockade on Saudi shipping in the chokepoint.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino abandoned his controversial plan to sell stakes in World Cup competitions to private investors Friday, following what the BBC described as a "thunderous barrage of criticism." Infantino had offered FIFA's 211 member associations $40 million each to back the proposal, which would have created a commercial subsidiary allowing external investors to buy minority stakes in FIFA tournaments. The plan would have been led by Joshua Kushner's investment group, according to the AP.

UEFA declared it had "lost confidence" in Infantino's leadership and had voted to boycott World Cups if the plans proceeded. In a scathing statement, UEFA accused Infantino of "shabby, back room, opaque" dealing and said the proposal represented "secret schemes of fast-track timescales cooked up by faceless individuals." The Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF also rejected the plan. FIFA's own chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said the administration had been "deceived" about the project, while senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned, calling it "a bad deal for football."

The controversy places Infantino's reelection bid in jeopardy ahead of the FIFA Congress in March. While he had secured pledge letters from about 200 member associations following last month's World Cup final, the investment plan faced insurmountable opposition. With UEFA's 55 votes, CONCACAF's 35, and Asia's 46 all opposing the plan, Infantino would have lacked the 106 votes needed from FIFA's 211 members. In his statement withdrawing the proposal, Infantino acknowledged it had "created divisions" that were "no longer in the interest" of its objectives, though he pledged to "bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks."

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced Friday a proposed overhaul of the Community Reinvestment Act, the first major revision to the 1977 civil rights-era law in nearly three decades. The changes would reduce the number of banks subject to full CRA compliance by 800 institutions, with the definition of a small bank increasing from those with under $412 million in assets to banks with $1 billion in assets. Under the new framework, only 86 banks—roughly 3% of all institutions—would face the full extent of CRA requirements.

The proposal shifts how banks are evaluated, placing more weight on lending in specific communities and geographies while reducing emphasis on branch openings and deposit-taking. Banks would need to collect more detailed information on community grant recipients, including addresses, providing greater transparency about where CRA-related donations flow. According to regulators, these changes would ensure community development grants "are not diverted to activist causes or consumed by excessive operating costs."

A particularly contentious change restricts which organizations can receive bank grants under CRA. The new rules discourage donations to national organizations, instead focusing on local groups—a shift that could significantly impact umbrella organizations like the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. NCRC CEO Jesse Van Tol called it "unfortunate" that regulators were "politicizing grant making," warning the changes would "discourage banks from making grants, particularly in rural areas." The proposal was jointly announced by the OCC and FDIC but did not include the Federal Reserve, despite banking groups pushing for alignment among all three major regulators. The CRA was originally passed to combat redlining and requires banks to document their lending practices in the communities where they operate.

The Trump administration has dramatically accelerated immigration court proceedings through "mega hearings" where individual judges handle hundreds of cases daily, according to new data from Mobile Pathways. More than 1,300 such hearings occurred in June alone—nearly triple the previous June's total. At the same time, the notice period before hearings has been slashed from about six months to just over a month in many cases, creating what critics call "a schedule designed for people not to have their case heard."

The compressed timeline is producing historic increases in missed court appearances and immediate deportation orders. In Harlingen, Texas, Immigration Judge Delia Gonzalez recently processed about 90 cases in a single day, with more than 20 people failing to appear. Most cases lasted less than five minutes. In West Valley City, Utah, Judge Brock Taylor was assigned 159 cases in one day. According to the AP, judges are reciting the same script to room after room of immigrants, asking if they understand the consequences of missing their next hearing—automatic deportation and forfeiture of asylum claims.

Former immigration judge Elizabeth Young questioned the pace: "There's a real limit to how many cases a judge can hear with any care in one morning. When you cram that many hearings into a single docket, you're working through a list, not holding court." Mobile Pathways COO Bartlomiej Skorupa said the data shows "valid claims are closed before being adjudicated." The Justice Department office handling immigration courts defended the approach, saying swift resolution serves the public interest by deporting those without legal grounds to stay while also helping immigrants with valid claims avoid prolonged delays. Andrew Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies called it necessary course-correction but warned against overburdening judges to the point of denying due process.

President Trump's Truth Social platform launched a paid service Saturday selling early access to his social media posts to Wall Street traders, raising questions about insider trading and profiting from public office. The service, called Truth API, will provide high-frequency trading firms with direct feeds of posts from Trump and other "high ranking" contributors, potentially including his sons Donald Jr. and Eric. Trump Media & Technology defended the offering, blasting Democratic critics for "mischaracterizing the service out of ideological opposition to free markets."

The president's posts have repeatedly moved markets, with recent threats on Truth Social about tariffs on Canada, canceling a Saudi nuclear deal, and widening the Iran war creating opportunities for traders to profit from currency swings, stock movements, and commodity price changes. Joe Saluzzi of Themis Trading estimates about 100 high-frequency firms might subscribe to the service. Truth Social maintains the information will be released to traders and the public simultaneously, but critics note that firms with AI systems built to instantly process posts will act "quicker than you and me," in Saluzzi's words.

Irene Aldridge of Able Alpha Trading, which does not plan to subscribe, said bluntly: "If this was the CEO of a public company, this would be jail time. We have a President of the United States who has the front seat to all the action, who makes all the decisions, and he's disclosing this ahead of time to a select group." The service comes as high-frequency traders spend heavily on feeds and servers that bypass slower internet connections, with artificial intelligence making it easier to read and act on market-moving information within milliseconds. Trump's taste for policy reversals is especially profitable for traders who can bet both ways on the same issue. The White House press office declined to comment on the propriety of the service or whether it had been vetted by lawyers.