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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
IRAN WAR – CEASEFIRE
U.S. forces yesterday launched retaliatory strikes against Iran following the downing of an Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said on social media. “The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” CENTCOM said, without providing further details on the strikes. The strikes hit radar and air defense sites, according to a U.S. official. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said that the U.S. had attacked several points in Jask, Sirik, and Qeshm, damaging a telecommunications tower and two water tanks. Aaron Pellish reports for POLITICO; Dave Lawler and Barak Ravid report for Axios.
The IRGC said today it had carried out attacks against a U.S. base in Jordan and 21 other targets in the Gulf overnight. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said yesterday, “We will leave no attack or threat unanswered,” adding, “Leave our region if you want to be safe.” Dave Lawler and Barak Ravid report for Axios; Estelle Shirbon, Christina Anagnostopoulos, and Farouq Suleiman report for Reuters.
Jordanian air defenses intercepted five missiles launched from Iran toward the Azraq region, according to a military statement published by Jordan’s official news agency today. The military said there was no material damage or casualties. Qasim Nauman reports for the New York Times.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said today that diplomatic efforts with the United States could not advance while there were repeated ceasefire violations. “Following overnight events, we need to re-assess… any diplomatic process requires a minimum stable environment,” he said. Tala Ramadan reports for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Italian prosecutors are investigating Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over the alleged torture and kidnapping of Italian activists who were part of the Gaza flotilla last month, a judicial source said. In response to the Italian investigation, Ben-Gvir said in a statement, “I will not shy away from one investigation or another and will continue to stand proudly alongside our fighters.” Reuters reports.
Palestinians are being systematically and deliberately subjected to severe violations of human rights law by all parties to the region’s conflict, trapped between Israeli forces and settlers on one side and the fear-based rule of Hamas on the other, according to a U.N. report published yesterday. “Violence by settlers is the direct outcome of Israeli policies that support, enable, and protect their actions, whereas Hamas-affiliated forces have exploited the vacuum created by relentless Israeli attacks and widespread destruction of Gaza,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Sam Metz reports for AP News.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
The report said that Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land in the occupied West Bank had surged since 2023, rising by 130%, including incidents involving groups of masked assailants. Israeli security forces routinely accompanied settlers and acted as a shield for the violence, it said. Olivia Le Poidevin reports for Reuters.
Britain, Canada, France, and Norway yesterday announced sanctions on networks that they say have financed and supported violence carried out against Palestinians by Israeli settlers. Australia and New Zealand announced related sanctions last week. Lynsey Chutel reports for the New York Times.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Ukraine last week tested a new surface-to-air missile designed as a cheaper, mass-producible alternative to the U.S. Patriot system, Ukrainian arms maker Fire Point told the Financial Times, calling it “pretty successful.” Mass production of the missile could begin in August, co-founder Denys Shtilierman said, pending the delivery of an infrared seeker for guidance, which Fire Point was hoping to source from Germany’s Diehl Defence. The completed missiles would be ready by 2027, he said. Charles Clover and Fabrice Deprez report.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Pakistani air strikes on three Afghan provinces today killed at least 13 people, including 11 children, the Afghan Taliban government said. Pakistan said the “calibrated strikes” along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border killed 26 militants and were a response to a recent spate of attacks in the country’s northwest. Mohammad Yunus Yawar reports for Reuters.
Germany has pulled out from the trilateral Future Combat Air System project with France and Spain, which aimed to build a new European-made fighter jet, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said yesterday. During a podcast interview in February, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that his country and France needed different kinds of fighter jets, raising expectations of the cancellation. Christopher F. Shuetze reports for the New York Times.
Masked men set fire to homes in Belfast and torched several vehicles in a wave of anti-immigrant violence last night that followed a knife attack for which a Sudanese man has been charged with attempted murder. In response to a post from the anti-immigrant activist Tommy Robinson about the Belfast knife-attack, in which he called for protests after “yet another invader attack on our people,” Elon Musk said, “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!” Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long told Reuters that “bad faith actors” had sought to weaponise the fear sparked by the knife attack to target those who had the same skin colour. Amanda Ferguson and Will Russell report.
The prediction market Kalshi said yesterday that it would require users to disclose their employers to trade in certain high-risk markets, a new measure intended to limit insider trading. Lauren McCarthy reports for the New York Times.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
Anthropic yesterday released Fable 5, a new model that performs at a similar level to its most advanced Claude Mythos model. The company says it has built in safeguards to prevent users from prompting Fable 5 to carry out a cyberattack or to detail how to create a bioweapon. Dana Nickel and Maggie Miller report for POLITICO.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Kenyan police yesterday shot and killed a protester as hundreds of people staged new demonstrations against the U.S. quarantine center in Kenya for U.S. citizens exposed to Ebola, sources told Reuters. Edwin Okoth reports.
The Trump administration told the exiled Belarus opposition that there is a delay in getting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to release more political prisoners, opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Reuters. Without disclosing the reason she was given, Tsikhanouskaya said, “Knowing the reason, it doesn’t worry me. Of course, we want more people to be released as soon as possible,” she said. “But it’s not the end of the process.” Mark Trevelyan reports.
Recent U.S. sanctions targeting Cuba’s leadership and the indictment of former President Raúl Castro are a “pretext” for the Trump administration to persuade U.S. citizens to support a military intervention, Cuba’s diplomat to the United States, Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera, told AP News. Torres Rivera described the current situation as “a war without bombs.” Matthew Lee reports.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
A Government Accountability Office report released yesterday documents serious problems at Camp East Montana, a massive ICE detention center in El Paso. Mismanagement at the facility created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and suffering, even as millions of tax dollars enriched contractors, the report found. Michael Biesecker and Ryan J. Foley report for AP News.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Bill Gates hired the former chief investigations counsel for the House Oversight Committee, Jake Greenberg, to help prepare for a private interview before the panel about his past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein today, two sources said. Annie Karni reports for the New York Times.
Federal prosecutors in Chicago repeatedly pushed for indictments against six people arrested while protesting at a federal immigration detention site last year, despite skepticism from jurors, according to grand jury transcripts released yesterday. While resubmitting a failed case to a grand jury is permissible, it was rare before the Trump administration, legal experts said. The case ultimately collapsed after the judge found errors in the grand jury process. Julie Bosman and Danny Hakim report for the New York Times.
The House of Representatives yesterday voted 214-212 to pass the Republicans’ $70 billion immigration enforcement bill. Catie Edmondson reports for the New York Times.
Trump yesterday told House Speaker Mike Johnson that he would not back down from his decision to elevate Bill Pulte to acting director of national intelligence, despite threats from Democrats to let Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lapse over the appointment, two sources told CNN. Hours later, Trump announced that Pulte would start as acting DNI on June 19. Kristen Holmes and Sarah Ferris report.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Thomas Lind, head of policy in the Office of the National Cyber Director, plans to leave government soon to spend more time with family, according to two sources. Two other White House officials closely involved in the Trump administration’s AI policy discussions also made plans to leave following Trump’s AI executive order. Lind’s former deputy on policy, Alexandra Seymour, exited last week, and Sriram Krishnan, the White House’s senior policy adviser for AI, plans to leave later this month. Others working on cyber policy are looking to exit due to low morale, according to one industry official. John Sakellariadis and Sophia Cai report for POLITICO.
Trump administration officials, including National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, have told the Center for AI Standards and Innovation to stop issuing public reports on AI models until the recent AI executive order is implemented, sources said. Amrith Ramkumar reports for the Wall Street Journal.
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