Trump celebrates Gaza ceasefire; Pentagon’s press policy faces backlash

A fragile but historic ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is now active, but the hardest part may just be starting.

Plus, a new media policy at the Defense Department has sparked rare unity across the press. Major outlets from The New York Times to Newsmax have refused to sign the Pentagon’s new rules limiting how reporters gather information about the military.

And Amazon is gearing up for the holidays with plans to hire 250,000 workers nationwide. It’s one of the few companies going big this season as retailers scale back on holiday hiring.

These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025.

Trump celebrates Gaza ceasefire, pushes for ‘phase two’

President Donald Trump is celebrating what he’s calling a historic breakthrough: a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that his administration helped broker.

“Together we’ve achieved what everybody said was impossible. At long last, we have peace in the Middle East,” Trump said.

He’s now turning to what he calls “phase two,” the next step in his peace plan for the region.

With all living hostages now released and Israel having freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, phase one of the Trump-backed plan to end the two-year war in Gaza is nearly complete.

Egypt’s foreign minister said both sides still need to fully execute the first phase before negotiations can proceed. That initial stage included the hostage-prisoner exchange, a surge of humanitarian aid and a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza’s major cities.

Aid has been flowing into Gaza since Friday. However, Israel said Hamas hasn’t yet returned the remains of two dozen hostages, as promised. An Israeli military spokesperson told CBS News that’s why troops haven’t fully pulled out.

The next phases of the deal are expected to tackle some of the toughest questions: how and when Hamas will disarm, who will control security inside Gaza and what a temporary governing council might look like.

A multinational peace force is expected to deploy to Gaza, but the details of which countries will contribute troops and how they’ll operate are still being worked out.

And the biggest question of all — whether Israel will formally recognize a Palestinian state — remains unresolved.

Senate to make 8th attempt to end 14-day government shutdown

The government shutdown has now stretched into its 14th day, and the Senate is back in session on Tuesday night, trying once again to break the deadlock.

Lawmakers are expected to vote on the House-passed spending measure — the eighth attempt to reach the 60 votes needed to reopen the government.

Republicans said they’re pushing for a clean continuing resolution, meaning funding without any policy add-ons. Democrats, however, insist that the package must protect Affordable Care Act subsidies and avoid deeper cuts to Medicaid.

“We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history, unless Democrats drop their partisan demands and pass a clean, no-strings-attached budget to reopen the government and pay our federal workers,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La..

Democrats responded that Republicans have repeatedly rejected their short-term plan, which also funds health programs and provides additional disaster relief.

And as the stalemate drags on, the Trump administration is moving forward with layoffs.

ABC News reported that dozens of employees at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have been told to stay home, an agency best known for launching the national 988 suicide prevention hotline.

Media refuses Pentagon policy; must sign Tuesday or surrender badges

Tensions are rising over press access at the Pentagon. News outlets must sign a new media policy by 5 p.m. ET or hand over their press badges within 24 hours.

The policy requires reporters to acknowledge that they won’t seek or solicit any information that the Department of Defense has not pre-approved. It also warns that military personnel could face consequences for “Unauthorized disclosures.”

News organizations have labeled the new policy a gag order, arguing it infringes on First Amendment rights and suppresses reporting on how a nearly $1 trillion department spends taxpayer money.

Matt Murray, the Washington Post’s executive editor, said, “The proposed restrictions undercut First Amendment protections by placing unnecessary constraints on gathering and publishing information.”

A who’s who of news organizations — The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Reuters, The Atlantic, and The Guardian — all said they won’t sign.

Newsmax and The Washington Times have also refused. 

Fox News, the former employer of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has not indicated whether it will sign the pledge.

A Pentagon spokesman said reporters are “moving the goalpost,” insisting the policy merely requires an acknowledgment, not an agreement. The spokesperson said the Pentagon is reminding journalists that access to the building is a “privilege, not a right.”

New details emerge about Dallas ICE shooter

New details have surfaced about the sniper who opened fire from a rooftop in Dallas last month, killing two people outside an ice facility.

Police said 29-year-old Joshua Jahn was unemployed, isolated and obsessed with AI technology. It was discovered that he spent thousands of hours playing video games alone in his parents’ bedroom.

According to CBS News, Jahn’s parents told investigators he moved to Washington state but returned to Texas, claiming he had radiation sickness from what he believed was exposure to a Manhattan Project site.

Investigators said the gunman insisted he was “allergic to plastic,” wearing cotton gloves to avoid touching it. They also said Jahn bought a rifle in Oklahoma, spending weeks practicing at target ranges before the attack.

The September ambush resulted in the deaths of two immigrants: a 37-year-old from El Salvador and a 32-year-old from Mexico.  

Another immigrant was seriously wounded before Jahn shot himself.

This morning just before 7am local time, an individual fired multiple rounds at a Dallas, Texas ICE facility, killing one, wounding several others, before taking his own life. FBI, DHS, ATF are on the ground with Dallas PD and state authorities.

While the investigation is… pic.twitter.com/SMOyxiKLqA

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) September 24, 2025

Police discovered handwritten notes outlining Jahn’s plan to target ICE agents, along with a bullet inscribed with the words “Anti-ICE.”

Amazon says it’s hiring 250K for holiday rush

Amazon announced it will hire hundreds of thousands of new employees just in time for the holiday season. The company said it’ll hire 250,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal workers across the U.S. to handle what it expects will be a surge in holiday orders.

It’s the third consecutive year Amazon has added a quarter million people for the busy season.

Amazon is hiring 250,000 people across the US this holiday season.

All seasonal employees earn more than $19 per hour on average and regular full- and part-time employees earn an average of $23 per hour. https://t.co/3GDvLvwTMC

— Amazon News (@amazonnews) October 13, 2025

The company said its seasonal jobs pay more than $19 an hour on average, while regular employees earn approximately $23, plus benefits.

Amazon’s hiring spree stands out. Across the retail industry, seasonal jobs are expected to hit their lowest level since 2009 as rising costs, inflation and automation lead many companies to cut staffing.

Amazon announced that openings will be posted weekly through December, and, as usual, they’re expected to fill quickly.

California engineer wins 2025 Safeway Pumpkin Weigh-Off with 2,346 lb gourd

Charlie Brown has nothing compared to Brandon Dawson’s great pumpkin, the 2025 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off champion.

The crowd at Half Moon Bay saw history in the making when the Santa Rose, California, engineer rolled in a gourd so massive, even the forklift groaned. 

Dawson’s giant jack-o-lantern tipped the scales at 2,346 lbs.

He said he used the same precision he brings to his engineering job — measuring sunlight, temperature and even water flow — to turn his patch into a science project.

“I was in this position last year, but I lost six pounds,” Dawson said. “This year, I was able to take the win, and that’s really what the goal was this year: to win one of the best, if not the best, pumpkin weigh-ups in the world.”

And the satisfaction of a job well done isn’t all Dawson won. He received a pretty big slice of the pie: a $21,114 prize. Plus, he took home an additional $1,000 for having the biggest gourd in the state of California.

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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief