The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.

A judge is considering a Trump administration request to end a decades-old policy on protections for immigrant children in federal custody that the government says is inhibiting its immigration crackdown.

The administration asked US District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles during a hearing to dissolve the policy, which limits how long Customs and Border Protection can hold immigrant children and requires them to be kept in safe and sanitary conditions.

Gee, who oversees what is known as the Flores agreement, expressed skepticism at the government’s request but did not immediately issue a ruling. It is not clear how soon she will rule.

The judge pressed government attorney Joshua McCroskey on why President Donald Trump’s administration was holding children at the border for longer than the 72 hours laid out in the agreement when border arrests have reached record lows. She said it seems like conditions should be improving but they “are deteriorating.”

“It seems counterintuitive that should happen unless it’s willful,” said Gee, who was nominated to the court by President Barack Obama.

McCroskey said some children are being held for longer because Trump as part of his crackdown ended the Biden administration’s policy that allowed expedited releases of immigrants. McCroskey also pointed to logistical challenges that resulted from the closure of temporary facilities that were set up under President Joe Biden to handle an influx of immigrants.

US President Donald Trump says he will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska.

He also suggests that a deal between Moscow and Kyiv could involve swapping territory held by the two sides.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Putin held consultations toay with the leaders of China and India to seek support ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.

“I’ll be meeting very shortly with President Putin. It would have been sooner, but I guess there’s security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make,” Trump says at the White House.

The US president also says “there’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Ukraine and Russia and that the issue will be discussed soon, without providing further details.

Qatar condemns the Israeli decision to take over Gaza City, where one million Palestinians are currently sheltering in the north of the war-torn Strip.

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