The Morning Brief: Ferry fire kills 5, Gaza strikes resume, Iran denies talks

An Indonesian ferry carrying at least 250 people caught fire off Madura island early Saturday, leaving five confirmed dead and 41 missing as of Saturday morning. The KMP Mutiara Sentosa 2 was nearly entirely engulfed in flames when rescue operations began. The captain reported the fire to Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency at approximately 08:24 local time, though the shipping company said the fire had begun roughly two to two-and-a-half hours earlier, between 06:00 and 07:00 local time. The cause remains unknown. The final death toll and full accounting of missing persons remain incomplete.

In Gaza, the picture fractures between announcement and action. Israeli military aircraft struck Gaza City, Khan Younis, and Deir el-Balah on consecutive nights, killing at least 13 people according to Palestinian officials. The strikes occur days after Hamas formally accepted a disarmament plan requiring the Palestinian group to hand over its weapons to the Board of Peace, a body established under President Trump's 20-point plan unveiled in September. Trump stated Friday that Israel was "very happy" with the agreement, calling it a "big step for the Middle East." A 15-point implementation roadmap was published Friday, setting out final steps including a process to "inventory and store heavy weapons, military production sites, weapons depots, and tunnels." Yet the roadmap makes Israeli troop withdrawal and Hamas weapons surrender mutually conditional, and Israeli officials continue military operations while publicly rejecting key elements of the framework.

Washington and Tehran are in fundamental disagreement over whether negotiations are occurring at all. President Trump announced Sunday that the US and Iran would hold new negotiations Monday afternoon after calling off what he described as massive military strikes. Trump said he had agreed to call off the strikes amid what he described as the "perimeters of a deal" that would include resuming shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and ultimately denuclearization of Iran. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei stated flatly on Monday: "We currently do not have negotiations with America," contradicting Trump's announcement. Trump said Iran does not have a deadline to come to an agreement and that he is "not looking to kill people."

Elsewhere, three people were killed and five injured in a shooting outside an In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho on Saturday at 2:29 p.m. The suspected shooter is also dead. Police have not clarified whether the alleged perpetrator is among the three confirmed fatalities. An In-N-Out employee was among those killed. Multiple people were transported to St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center. Investigators are working to establish the shooter's identity and motive.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's ousted democracy leader held under house arrest since a 2021 military coup, met with International Committee of the Red Cross representatives this week, marking her first confirmed contact outside detention in two and a half years. The 81-year-old was sentenced to 33 years in jail; her sentence has since been reduced and she has been moved to house arrest. Photographs released by the Myanmar military government show her appearing relaxed and well. Her son said the visit may be a first step toward her release. The visit breaks a 2.5-year silence on Suu Kyi's status but leaves unanswered what prompted the junta to allow it now.

JPMorgan Chase announced a $750 billion housing investment through 2035, including financing for 1 million affordable units and assistance for 500,000 people in buying homes, with 200,000 of those being first-time homebuyers. The commitment represents a 40 percent increase in the bank's housing capital deployment compared to the previous decade. The announcement comes as median home prices have hit a record $440,660.

The US Treasury and Japan's Ministry of Finance jointly intervened in currency markets to halt the yen's slide to a 40-year low, marking the first coordinated intervention between the two countries since 2011. Japan's finance ministry said the intervention countered what it called excessive volatility and disorderly movements in the yen in recent months. Both countries have signaled readiness to conduct more interventions if yen weakness resumes.

WestJet and its flight attendant union CUPE 8125 reached a tentative agreement to end a strike that cancelled 495 flights and affected 250,000 travelers during peak travel. The union represents 4,400 cabin crew at Canada's second-largest airline. The strike centered on how flight attendants should be compensated for duties performed before flights take off. Under the tentative deal, work that flight attendants do before flights take off will be recognized, though the specific terms of how that work will be paid remain undisclosed. The deal still requires union ratification.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an 80-year-old Democratic congresswoman from Ohio and one of the longest-serving members of Congress who first won her seat in 1982, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries following a hit-and-run crash Sunday morning in Toledo. She was a passenger in a vehicle traveling to a church service when the car was struck. Two people were transported to the hospital. Kaptur is active and alert, her office said. The Toledo Police Department investigation remains ongoing; the vehicle and driver have not been identified or apprehended.