Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here.
A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
IRAN WAR – LEBANON OPERATIONS
Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks in southern Lebanon continued yesterday, despite the announcement of the latest ceasefire agreement. Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, rejected the U.S.-brokered agreement yesterday, saying it amounted to a demand that his group surrender while Israel continued its offensive. “As long as the occupation continues, the resistance will continue,” Qassem said. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz later said he would not withdraw Israel’s forces or halt operations in Lebanon. In Washington, President Trump told reporters he believed progress was being made in Lebanon and the country deserved to have peace, adding, “It’s been going on for a long time, you know.” Euan Ward reports for the New York Times; Jana Choukeir and Laila Bassam report for Reuters.
The majority of House Democrats voted with Republicans yesterday to defeat a Lebanon war powers resolution forced to the floor by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). The House voted 92 to 324 against Tlaib’s resolution, which would have directed Trump to remove all U.S. armed forces from Lebanon within seven days of passage. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) came out against the resolution ahead of the vote, saying “there are no U.S. service members involved in combat operations or hostilities in Lebanon.” Andrew Solender reports for Axios.
IRAN WAR – OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
The first report from the International Atomic Energy Agency since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began in February found little change in its assessment of Iran’s nuclear programme, but reiterated concerns that Iran has not accounted for its stockpiles of enriched uranium and has denied inspectors access to key nuclear sites for nearly a year, according to a copy seen by Reuters. Reuters reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday published an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The letter offered to resume peace talks, but also taunted Putin over wartime setbacks such as inflation and Russia’s dependence on China. Zelenskyy said he would meet for direct talks outside the Trump administration’s negotiating process, suggesting the inclusion of European nations and holding a leaders’ meeting in Switzerland, Turkey, or an Arab state. Andrew E. Kramer reports for the New York Times.
Putin said yesterday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep into Russia. “To our regret, some of them break through,” Putin said. “Russia has an air defense system, we need to improve it, strengthen it, and we will do that.” James Jordan and Harriet Morris report for AP News.
Ukrainian forces are using images from commercial satellites operated by Colorado-based Vantor to make real-time battle decisions. The rapid delivery to soldiers of geospatial intelligence has shortened the time it takes to locate and strike Russian assets by as much as 90%, according to sources. Heather Somerville reports for the Wall Street Journal.
The House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill providing $1.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine and expanding sanctions on Russia, with 18 republicans joining Democrats in a 226-195 vote. Connor O’Brien reports for POLITICO.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
China’s State Council this week announced new rules requiring national security screening for Chinese companies seeking to invest overseas. Alexandra Stevenson and Murphy Zhao report for the New York Times.
Somali government forces and opposition fighters yesterday exchanged heavy gunfire in Mogadishu, as a row over delays to elections has escalated. Tensions have built since an announcement last month by opposition leaders that they would lead demonstrations on Thursday to protest what they said was an illegal extension of the president’s term in office. Abdishukri Haybe and Basillioh Rukanga report for BBC News; Hussein Mohamed and Matthew Mpoke Bigg report for the New York Times.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday called on Elon Musk to stop interfering in British politics, after Musk posted on his platform about the murder of Henry Nowak, which has triggered a public outcry and protests. Musk had posted about the case on X, suggesting police are biased against white people. Alistair Smouth reports for Reuters.
The international body overseeing Bosnia’s peace process yesterday failed to agree on a candidate for a new envoy to replace Germany’s Christian Schmidt. Daria Sito-Sucic reports for Reuters.
Thousands of Albanians are protesting a luxury resort slated for the Albanian coastline and backed by Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner. The protests, raising concerns about conservation, transparency, and the project’s ties to the Trump family, began Sunday, after heavy machinery began working on the project. In an interview, Ivanka Trump spoke about the project at length, calling it “the culmination of all of my experience in real estate.” Fjori Sinoruka and Sammy Westfall report for the Washington Post.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
AI development is moving so rapidly that soon it will be able to advance itself without human involvement, according to a new blog post from Anthropic. “Recursive self-improvement,” a process in which AI systems build, test and improve themselves, is a phenomenon which may come sooner than expected, Anthropic says its research shows. Anthropic added that the ability to slow global AI development would “likely be a good thing” in its blog post. Ashley Gold reports for Axios; Bradley Olson and Sam Schechner report for the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The U.S. designation of Brazil’s Commando Vermelho and Primeiro Commando da Capital as foreign terrorist organizations could disrupt cooperation against drug and arms trafficking, Brazilian sources said. Two officials said the move may halt daily intelligence sharing and joint operations. They said probes currently handled by the FBI, DEA, and U.S. immigration authorities could instead fall under the CIA and be classified, interrupting a widely valued information flow. Ricardo Brito reports for Reuters.
Jamshid Ghomi, a California businessman accused of supplying U.S. computer networking equipment to customers in Iran, including organizations tied to Iran’s nuclear and military programs, has been charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Justice Department said. Mark Walker reports for the New York Times.
U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS
The United States yesterday imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, his wife, and three other individuals. Asked if his sanctions were meant to accelerate Cuba’s collapse, Trump said, “We just want them to be a nicely run country.” He added, “It’s sort of [already] collapsed,” and “we’re going to handle that as soon as we’ve finished” military operations in Iran. Fatima Hussein, Danica Coto, and Matthew Lee report for AP News.
Three international hotel chains and a bank that processes Visa and Mastercard transactions withdrew business from Cuba this week to avoid violating new U.S. regulations. Frances Robles reports for the New York Times.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
ICE acting Director David Ventrulla said ICE is eliminating its requirement to report deaths that occur within 30 days of people being released from its custody, according to an internal memo sent yesterday and reviewed by the Washington Post. The 30-day requirement was adopted in 2021 “to make clear the ICE should not release people simply to avoid deaths in custody,” former acting chief Deborah Fleischaker said. Douglas MacMillan reports.
Christian J. Castro, a federal immigration agent charged in connection with an on-duty shooting in Minnesota, will not waive extradition from Texas, his lawyer told a judge yesterday. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) will now most likely make a formal request to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for Castro’s extradition. Federal officials have raised questions about the legality of a state prosecution of a federal agent for on-duty conduct. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that “this is a federal issue, and it must be handled at the federal level.” Mitch Smith reports for the New York Times.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Senior Justice Department official Aakash Singh recently instructed prosecutors nationwide to redouble efforts to pursue criminal charges against noncitizens who have voted, sources said. Singh also expressed frustration over the lack of progress in roughly 90 open investigations into possible noncitizen voting cases. Ernesto Londono reports for the New York Times.
John R. Bolton, a national security adviser to Trump during his first term, has reached a tentative deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to mishandling classified information when he compiled notes for a book that was harshly critical of the president, two sources said. A notice in the Maryland federal court shows that Bolton is now scheduled for rearraignment on June 26. Under the terms of the plea deal, Bolton plans to plead guilty to a single count of illegal retention of classified information and pay a fine, with a possible range of no prison time to 5 years in custody, the sources said. Devlin Barrett and Michael S. Schmidt report for the New York Times.
Early this morning, Senate Republicans pushed through their $70 billion immigration bill. The 52 to 47 vote sent the measure to the House, which is expected to move quickly to pass it. The vote followed a series of Democratic amendments that forced Republicans to take recorded positions on controversial Trump-backed proposals – including his $1.8 billion victim compensation fund and funding for a White House ballroom project – exposing internal divisions within the Republican Party even as the immigration bill ultimately passed. Annie Karni and Robert Jimison report for the New York Times.
The Kennedy Center yesterday directed its employees to remove all references to Trump from its communication to comply with a federal judge’s order, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO. Cheyanne M. Daniels and Daniel Lippman report.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Trump yesterday indicated that he will not nominate Bill Pulte to be the director of national intelligence once his temporary appointment expires early next year. Reuters reports.
The Defense Department has reduced its list of recognised faiths and belief systems from 211 to 31, Military.com has learned. This latest revision to the faith codes comes at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to a memo, and is meant to streamline the system and make chaplain support more practical and usable. Nick Mordowanec reports.
The Pentagon is expected to cancel a plan to send Tomahawk missiles to Germany partly because officials are concerned Russia will view it as an escalation, according to two European officials and one U.S. official. Paul McLeary, Stefanie Bolzen, and Chris Lunday report for POLITICO.
Anthropic is reportedly working with the National Security Agency by installing around six of its engineers in the NSA to help deploy its Mythos AI model for offensive cyber operations, two sources said. Cristina Criddle and Demetri Sevastopulo report for the Financial Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
Hegseth has rejected Anthropic’s request to overturn the company’s designation as a national security risk, the Pentagon told the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. Hassan Ali Kanu reports for POLITICO.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.
If you enjoy listening, Just Security’s analytic articles are also available in audio form on the justsecurity.org website.
ICYMI: Yesterday on Just Security
